The Dabuura arc
by Bob Roos
Summary: During a martial arts tournament Videl, her best friend Erasa, and her shy new friend Gohan get caught in the middle of multiple world-threatening foes. Gohan will have to overcome several demons, both physical and psychological, to be the hero that his father was once before him and save the world. Very alternate Majin Buu storyline. More Dabura, no fusion/Ultimate Gohan.
1. The Goldfighter

Just finishing off her training session, Videl was psyched. Just one month left until the World Martial Arts Tournament, and she had improved massively during the school holidays. Surely she was ready now, and right on time, as her school would be starting next Monday. As Videl was cleaning herself, her phone rang. Looking on the display, she saw it was the police. _Darn it, those thugs always show up right when I am exhausted from training._

'Hey Videl.'

'Hey Mac, what's up?'

'There was a bank robbery this afternoon, we figured we could handle it on our own, but before we could even engage this one guy showed up and beat them all up on his own.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, one of the thugs even fired at the guy, but he just _caught_ the bullets with a single hand, he made it look like it was easy!'

'No way, you must've seen it wrong. Catching bullets is something they do in superhero manga, not in real life. Heck, even my dad can't catch bullets!'

'I'm telling you, he caught at least half a dozen bullets.' Mac insisted. 'I'm sure of it, and once the thug's gun was empty he just casually dropped the bullets from his hand, how did those bullets end up in his hand if he didn't catch them?!'

'Cool story Mac, but if you're trying to fool me at least make the story a bit more believable.'

'I'm not joking, I'm serious.' Mac was starting to sound a bit annoyed. 'I was actually calling you to ask you if you knew who the guy was, after he knocked the thugs unconscious he vanished before we could even ask him who he actually was.'

A guy who's strong and fast enough to catch bullets, yet not smart enough to understand the dangers of going vigilante without even notifying the police or cooperating? Videl remained sceptical.

'Why do you think I might know the guy?' she asked, trying to hide her scepticism, as she was also getting curious to this story.

'Well, he had one of those Orange Star High School badges on his clothes, so we figured he also goes to your school.' Mac replied, seemingly happy she finally showed interest instead of disbelief.

'How did he look like?'

'He was about average height, we estimate around 175cm, about 16, 17 years old, maybe 18. He wore fairly formal clothes for a guy his age, with the Orange Star Badge on his chest. He had eyes that were a bit in between blue and green, and golden hair…'

'You mean blonde hair?' Videl interrupted.

'I can see why you'd think that, but it was a bit different. I'm not sure how to phrase it, but it was as if his hair actually emitted light, and it was standing straight up.'

 _A thug hairstyle and formal clothes, almost seems like a contradiction in looks._

'That sounds weird. I haven't ever seen a guy like that, and I'm pretty sure I'd remember a guy like that.' Videl replied.

'Figures. Well, it was worth a shot. Next week your school starts again right? Can you keep an eye out there, we really need to find this guy and have a talk with him.'

'Sure thing, I'll let you know if I figure anything out.'

Videl still wasn't sure if Mac had been serious or just pulling of a prank after the call ended. Videl received calls from the police occasionally, asking her to help out taking down some thugs because she was so strong. Videl was a 17 year old girl, and at only 157cm tall she was short, even for a girl. But over the years she had learned how to use this to her advantage in fights, most opponents weren't used to fighting such short opponents so she could easily dodge most attacks. Her short size was in sharp contrast to her father's size, who was very tall with a height of 188cm. Videl's father, Mr. Satan, was the current World Martial Arts Champion. He was the strongest man on the planet, and he saved the world about seven years ago by defeating a monster named Cell in an event called the Cell Games that the monster had hosted. Videl wasn't exactly sure what Cell was planning to do if he hadn't been defeated, some said he wanted to blow up the Earth, but Videl didn't really believe that, who could blow up the entire Earth? Regardless, after that Mr. Satan was celebrated worldwide as a hero, the strongest man on the planet. He only reinforced that title a couple of years ago by winning the World Martial Arts Tournament for a second time in a row.

That evening the bank robbery was on the news on TV. Videl was watching together with her father. The news organisation showed security cam footage. Videl saw the thugs threaten the bank clerks with guns, but she couldn't hear what was said. There was no sound recorded by the security cameras. Then she saw him, the guy Mac had told her about – the guy with the golden hair. It really did seem to emit light, although that could also be the security camera hitching up, they weren't always the best quality camera. His clothes seemed somewhat formal, and she also noticed the badge from her high school on his chest. The news organisation then paused the video and drew a big circle around the guy with the golden hair.

Mr. Satan took notice of the encircled character on the screen, seemingly deep in thought.

'What's up dad, do you recognise him?' Videl asked.

'I'm not sure actually,' her father answered. 'I've got the feeling I've seen him somewhere before, but I don't know where.'

'If you have any information regarding the identity of this man, named for now _the Goldfighter_ , Satan City Police Department urgently requests you to contact them at this number.' The number appeared on the screen. 'Although the Goldfighter did stop the bank robbers, these kinds of actions are better served in coordination with the police to prevent accidents. If the Goldfighter happens to see this, please contact the police. The Satan City Police Department ensures that he will not be prosecuted for this, as he did help out taking out the bank robbers and it is believed that the Goldfighter had no ill intentions.'

The video continued. One of the thugs fired his gun at the Goldfighter, it seemed to be some kind of automatic weapon, but the Goldfighter appeared to catch the bullets with his right hand, without even flinching slightly! He made it seem as easy as if he was locking his front door. He dropped the bullets on the ground. _He really caught them!_ Before Videl could think about how he could've pulled that off, the Goldfighter suddenly moved forward at high speed and knocked the guy with the gun out in a single blow. She barely even saw him move, it almost looked like the footage was played on Fast-Forward, except the thugs didn't move or fall at high speeds. He then proceeded to knock out all the other thugs with a single blow as well, his knockout spree lasted only a couple of seconds. _This has got to be some kind of magic trick, nobody can move that fast, but it looks so real._ After that, the Goldfighter moved out of the frame at high speed. The police officers entered and cuffed the unconscious robbers. The video ended. They returned to the studio. The news reporters were talking about what they'd seen, but they didn't seem to have seen anything Videl hadn't already seen herself.

'Hmm, he looks about as old as you are right?' Mr. Satan suddenly brought up while the news guys were talking in the studio.

'I guess so, why? Do you have an idea who he is?'

'Well, I'm not sure…'Mr. Satan answered, trying to find the right words. 'But he reminds me of the kid who was also there at the Cell Games. He was quite strong back then, especially for his age. And he also had that glowing golden hair.'

'Didn't he fight with Cell before you fought him a second time? How did he survive that?'

Mr. Satan laughed. 'You're forgetting that _I_ was there Videl. When that kid was losing to Cell, I stepped in. I mean, he was just a little child, about your age. I couldn't let that monster get away with hurting the kid, even if his friends seemed to be okay with it. I wasn't just going to stay out of it because Cell said his games would be one-on-one. I stepped in and destroyed Cell before that monster had a chance to hurt the kid even more.' Mr. Satan concluded proudly.

 _That makes sense, but that also means…_

'So, you know who he is right?' Videl continued.

'Well, no, I never actually spoke with him.' Mr. Satan replied hesitantly.

Videl looked at her father sceptically. It wasn't like her father at all not to have a chat with someone he just saved and gloat a little. He seemed to notice her look and quickly continued.

'The kid was pretty beat up after his fight with Cell, and his friends seemed more eager to get the kid quickly to a hospital than to thank the Champ, so they left immediately without even thanking me.' Mr. Satan said as if that was a grave insult. 'I never saw any of them again after that, they never even sent me a card or anything to thank me for saving the kid's life. Like I said, those guys were crazy, they were the ones who even brought a child to the Cell Games in the first place and let him fight. As far as I know nobody ever figured out who those guys were.' Mr. Satan concluded.

That was definitely interesting. Videl noticed several similarities between the Cell Games boy and the Goldfighter. In both cases the guy with gold hair disappeared without talking to anyone, in both cases he was very strong, in both cases the identity was still unknown, and apparently their hair was similar too. And golden hair that actually glowed, that couldn't be common. She had never seen anything like that at least. The two cases were too similar to really be a coincidence. But it didn't really bring her any closer to figuring out who he was, she was as clueless to the identity of the kid from the Cell Games as she was to the identity of the Goldfighter. And he could catch bullets… Videl had heard tales of martial artists from long ago who were able to catch bullets and move faster than the eye could see, but she had always believed them to be just that, tales. She knew full well how much stories could inflate, some of the things that were said about her father's capabilities were also completely ludicrous, even though her father didn't exactly go out of his way to debunk such stories.

'How do you suppose he managed to catch those bullets?' Videl asked her father.

'I'm pretty sure that was just a cheap magic trick, he probably had those bullets hidden in his sleeve the whole time.' Mr. Satan replied condescendingly.

'Could you have caught those bullets? Some say that you're capable of such feats.' Videl flattered trying to get a better answer.

Mr. Satan laughed. 'Well sweetie, I'm going to be honest with you, I don't know if I could. But what I do know is that I'm not stupid enough to try just to show off my strength. Besides, I don't want to be encouraging my fans to try such dangerous stunts at home.'

A magic trick? That could be possible, although the Goldfighter would then have to have known in advance that the thug would be firing at him. And wouldn't the fired bullets then still be out there somewhere if they missed? If the Goldfighter collaborated with the robbers to pull off a magic trick that would be completely insane. Why would you go through such lengths to show off a magic trick, only to have your buddies end up in jail and not even letting anyone know who you actually are?


	2. Back to school

Videl was excited to go back to school. Not for the lessons, they were boring, but she hadn't seen her best friend Erasa in a long time. Erasa had gone abroad with her family during the holidays, while Videl had been mostly occupied with her martial arts training. Also, the Goldfighter had worn the badge from her school, maybe she could figure out something more. After seeing that news report and her discussion with her father, Videl was determined to figure out who he was. If there was any truth to really catching bullets or moving that fast, she'd find it out.

As Videl entered the classroom Erasa was already there. Videl sat down next to her.

'Hey Videl, have you seen that Goldfighter on the news? He was so cool, I've been looking everywhere on school but nobody seems to know anything about him, even though he had a badge from here.' Erasa blabbered excitedly. 'Do you know anything about him, you're both in the crime-fighting business after all?'

'Hey Erasa. No, I've got no idea who he is. So, nobody in school seems to know anything about him huh?'

'No, that's the weird part. I mean, he _has_ to be from this school as he wore the badge, so how come nobody knows anything?' Erasa continued. Her excitement and curiosity were sky-high.

Videl considered telling her about her father's theory that Erasa's latest crush was the same person as the kid at the Cell Games, but decided not to. Erasa's excitement would probably explode.

'Maybe he just wore the badge to conceal his identity and he isn't from here at all.' Videl theorised. She didn't really want to believe that, that would significantly reduce the chances of her finding him, but she had to acknowledge that it was a viable possibility.

'Miss Videl, Miss Erasa, once you're done blabbering I would like to start!'

The teacher had already entered, so Videl and Erasa quickly became silent.

'Before we begin, I would like to introduce a new student to your class, he just transferred to this school. The marks for his entry exams were phenomenal, so maybe you can all learn something from his way of studying. His name is Son Gohan.'

Gohan entered shyly and bowed to the teacher. He was about average height, with black spiky hair that seemed like it wasn't the centre of attention for Gohan, and formal clothes that somewhat reminded Videl of the clothes the Goldfighter was wearing. Suddenly a loud voice spoke next to her.

'Hey Gohan, come sit over here, there is still a spot left open!' Erasa called out while waving to Gohan and motioning to the empty seat on Erasa's other side.

Gohan hurried to the spot that Erasa pointed out, trying not to draw attention while doing so but utterly failing – he was the only one moving in the room.

'He's quite cute actually.' Erasa whispered to Videl while Gohan was moving to them. Videl didn't agree, he seemed more awkward and dorky than cute, not really someone to have a fun time with. But Erasa always said you had to go for the friendly dorks, even if they were a little awkward, over the douchebags that were in sports, it was a lot better in the long run. As Gohan sat down next to Erasa he thanked her and bowed to her. Erasa seemed elated by Gohan's attempt at showing manners, while Videl thought it was quite awkward. Videl and Erasa didn't have much opportunity to get to know Gohan during the rest of the class, the teacher was still spying on them after they were caught talking earlier and Gohan seemed very intent on taking notes.

During the lunch break, Erasa invited Gohan to sit with them. As he sat down at their table, Erasa made her introductions.

'Hey Gohan, this is Videl,' she motioned to Videl, 'she's the crime-fighting hero of the city, and the daughter of Mr. Satan. And my name is Erasa, I'm a good friend of Videl, and I'm the lead singer in the school band.'

'Nice to meet you, and umm, thank you for letting me join you for lunch.' Gohan replied gracefully.

'Where did you originally go to school Gohan, why'd you transfer here?' Erasa asked.

'I never went to a public school before, there are no schools near my house, so I was home-schooled.' Gohan answered. 'My mother paid teachers to come to our house and teach me. But my most recent teacher told my mother that it'd be good for me to go to a public school and get to know people my own age. And home-schooling is expensive and my mother couldn't afford to keep it up longer now that my little brother has to start his education too.'

'Get to know people your own age?!' Erasa exclaimed. To Erasa, having no contact with other people your own age, even for a couple of days, would be utterly impossible. 'Aren't there any other families living near your house?'

'Not really, our house is the only house in the area, it's just my mother, my little brother, and me. Our house is in the middle of the forest in the mountains.' Gohan admitted.

 _Okay, definitely a socially awkward dork, if he hasn't had any significant contact with people his own age his entire life._

'Have you ever played any musical instruments Gohan? What do you like to do?' Erasa asked, obviously trying to shift the subject to something a bit less embarrassing to Gohan. Videl noticed Gohan's clothes again, they really did look similar to the clothes the Goldfighter wore. And his height seemed about right too, but his hair was black, not gold, and definitely not glowing. Besides, his personality didn't seem to match a hero, he seemed to be far too shy. But if they wore the same clothes, maybe Gohan had once seen the Goldfighter or perhaps even knew who he was. Videl noticed her thoughts had wandered off from the conversation between Erasa and Gohan, Erasa was now telling Gohan about the school band.

'Hey Gohan, have you ever heard of the Goldfighter?' Videl asked.

'The Goldfighter? I don't think so.' Gohan answered. 'What is the Goldfighter?'

Erasa answered before Videl even had a chance to.

'Oh he's a new hero in the city!' Erasa called out excitedly. 'Last week he stopped some thugs from robbing the bank. He has this glowing golden hair, and he's really strong, which is why they call him the Goldfighter. He knocked out all those thugs in a single blow! But nobody knows who he is or where he came from, he's like the mystery hero.'

'The police are actually looking for him too.' Videl added.

Gohan looked confused. 'Why would they want to arrest someone that helps them take down bank robbers?'

'They don't want to arrest him, they just want to have a talk with him. When I go and fight thugs I cooperate with the police so we know of each other where we are, it helps a lot in preventing accidents.' Videl replied patiently.

'Yeah that's true. And the police want to know who the Goldfighter is, they want to know his capabilities so they can cooperate well. But if they don't even know who he is…' Erasa added.

'Okay, I guess that makes sense.' Gohan replied hesitantly. 'I've got no idea who he is, I umm, haven't really been in this city a lot, why did you ask me about him?'

From the way Gohan behaved Videl had the impression he was hiding something.

'Well, your clothes look similar to the ones that the Goldfighter was wearing at the bank last week.' Videl answered simply.

'Oh WOW you're right!' Erasa almost shouted through the lunch room. Some people from other tables looked around to see what was going on. Gohan turned red and looked like he wanted to hide under the table, but Erasa didn't notice. 'How cool is that?! You've got the same clothes as the Goldfighter.'

 _Just a bit more pressure and I might get some useful information out of him._

'My dad thinks that the Goldfighter might be the same person as the little boy that showed up during the Cell Games, the one who fought Cell before my dad finished him off.' Videl told them. 'My dad was there at the Cell Games, and he said that that boy also had glowing gold hair.'

'Holy shit really?! The kid from the Cell Games the Goldfighter?!' Erasa now shouted in excitement. Almost everybody in the entire lunch room was now staring at their table. Gohan looked like he was utterly unable to say even a single word. _Maybe that was a bit too much._ 'That must mean your dad knows him right?! Did you ask him?!'

At that time Erasa suddenly noticed Gohan's expression and all the staring eyes. She forced herself to calm down for Gohan's sake. As Erasa calmed down, Videl replied.

'I asked him, but apparently the kid was in pretty bad shape after his fight with Cell, and his friends took him to the hospital before my dad even had a chance to talk to them. None of them ever sent a card or letter or anything to thank my dad afterwards, so he doesn't know who the kid was either.'

'That's quite ungrateful after your dad saved the kid's life.' Erasa stated. 'Unless the kid died on the way to the hospital or something, I guess it would be very difficult for his friends to say thanks to your dad in that case.'

'If he died back then how could he be the Goldfighter?' Videl asked.

'Don't you remember? After your dad destroyed Cell all those people that Cell killed came back to life for some reason.' Erasa theorised. 'Shouldn't the boy have also come back to life in that case?'

'I'm pretty sure the boy was still alive when my dad defeated Cell. Dad would have mentioned it otherwise, he was right there. If he died from his injuries afterwards I don't think he could be the Goldfighter.'

The attention from the other tables had significantly lessened now that Erasa had calmed down, but Gohan was still shaking a bit.

'I don't know, I mean, I don't even know why those people suddenly came back to life. That shouldn't even be possible right?' Erasa sighed. 'Let's just talk about something else. What have you guys been doing in the holidays?'

'I spent most of my time training for the tournament.' Videl answered. 'I'm much stronger now. Judging by how strong the others were at the last tournament I think I have a good chance of getting far, as long as I don't get matched up with my dad in the first round.'

'What kind of tournament are you talking about Videl?' Gohan asked. He seemed a lot more at ease now.

'The World Martial Arts Tournament. My dad won the last two tournaments, he's a lot stronger than me obviously, but I think I have a good chance at defeating the other participants.'

'I'll surely be there to cheer you on Videl.' Erasa said. 'Hey Gohan, why don't you come along too? It'll be fun!'

'When is the tournament?'

'It's in about a month on Papaya Island, which is east of South City.' Videl answered.

'I'd have to ask my mother first, I'm not sure if she'd approve of me spending time that could also be used for studying, especially not so far away.' Gohan admitted. 'How have your holidays been Erasa?'

'Oh they've been great. I went to the north with my parents, we went to this cute little town called Jingle Village. There was lots of snow, and it was quite cold, but they had some amazing stories.' Erasa started.

'Really, what kind of stories?' Gohan asked.

'Well, there was this destroyed tower, not even that old, maybe like 25 years or so, and the people there said it was built by the Red Ribbon Army, but it was destroyed when a little boy came there and managed to defeat the Red Ribbon Army division that was active there, and after that the boy flew off on top of a golden cloud.' Erasa told them. 'I'm not sure how much to believe of it, according to them the little boy defeated that entire army division on his own, but there were several people there that were convinced of it and that were also alive back then, apparently they still "remember it like it was yesterday".'

'What would the Red Ribbon Army be doing in such a small village in the snow?' Videl asked. 'I heard that they tried to take over the world by force back then, but completely disbanded after a while for no apparent reason. My guess is those thugs started fighting among themselves and as a result destroyed themselves from the inside. Thugs can never get along with each other for long.'

'The inhabitants claimed the soldiers were looking for some kind of magical ball there, and enslaved the population to help them find it. But apparently they were defeated by that little boy before they ever found any magical ball there, and no magical ball was ever found there since.' Erasa concluded. 'Personally, I don't really buy the story, I mean, a magical ball and a child that defeats an entire army, and then flies off on top of a golden cloud? It's so ludicrous. But so many people there were absolutely sure that that's what happened, it's quite weird.'

'Indeed a weird story.' Videl said. 'I think those village people are the ones who have their heads in the clouds instead of that little boy.'

Erasa almost spat out her drink at that comment in laughter. The bell rang, they had to go back to class. Videl then turned to Gohan.

'What do you think Gohan, is there any truth to boys flying on clouds that defeat entire armies on their own?'

Gohan was already packing his stuff to go to class. He didn't immediately answer, he appeared to be deep in thought.

'It sounds difficult to believe, but if a guy that can knock out armed bank robbers in a single blow with ease really exists, why wouldn't a boy strong enough to chase some soldiers be possible?' Gohan answered thoughtfully. 'But I think it's time for class, we'd better get going.'

As she packed her stuff, Videl considered Gohan's answer. The Goldfighter had managed to catch bullets and knock out all those bank robbers with incredible ease. If it was really possible to become so fast and strong, similar to those stories from the old martial artists, why didn't more people know how to do that? Regardless, if it was possible, she'd have to find out how to become so strong. It seemed impossible, but with the old legends, Erasa's story, and the Goldfighter stories all together maybe there was some truth to this after all.

'Hey Erasa, did those villagers ever mention if the boy had a name?' Videl asked while they were walking to class.

'Yeah they did. They said he called himself Goku.' Erasa answered. 'Weird name huh?'


	3. A small insight in history

That evening Videl went online and entered Goku in a search engine. Goku was the first name she knew of someone presumably capable of such feats, so it was as good a place as any to start. After a bit of refining the search Videl managed to find an interesting article.

 _May 9th Age 756._

 _ **Son Goku new World Martial Arts Champion after insane battle that leaves entire stadium destroyed.**_

 _Public favourite Son Goku, age 18, managed to win the 23rd edition of the World Martial Arts Tournament on his third try. Having been defeated in the final match at the 21st and 22nd edition with extremely close margins by Jackie Chun and Tenshinhan respectively, Son Goku managed to defeat previous champion Tenshinhan in the semi-finals after a spectacular fight that left the audience dazzled at the intense strength, speed, and technique displayed by both fighters, exceeding even the final match of the 22nd edition between the same fighters._

 _The final match between Son Goku and his opponent Ma-Junior quickly grew into a match fought at a level never seen before at the World Martial Arts Tournament, leaving the entire stadium in ruins by the end. Ma-Junior eventually lost the match by ring-out. The referee stated that the ring-out was difficult to call with no real ring left to speak of, but some remains of the outline were still visible. Both fighters suffered from serious injuries during the fight, leaving this reporter and the referee flabbergasted as to how they managed to continue their fight. According to the referee (the audience and news reporters had fled to safety during the match), Ma-Junior lost one of his arms during a part of the fight, but managed to grow a new one, while Son Goku suffered from a severe wound to his shoulder._

 _Concluding this tournament, Son Goku has set several Tournament records on his name. Apart from being the youngest finalist ever at age 12 during the 21st edition, he is now also the youngest Champion ever at age 18, and the first fighter in the history to propose his opponent to marriage after his fight in the first round with newcomer Chi-Chi._

 _Son Goku was unavailable for interview after the match. Witnesses say that he left the tournament grounds quickly with his fiancée after winning the final match. Goku's opponent Ma-Junior was also unavailable for comment. Goku's martial arts master Kame-Sen'nin, also known as the Turtle Hermit Master Roshi, was available to comment._

 _Interviewer:_ _Kame-Sen'nin, what do you think of Son Goku's performance?_

 _Kame-Sen'nin:_ _Goku's ability as a fighter is absolutely miraculous, even if you do not account for his young age. Ever since I started training him when he was just a little 11-year old boy he showed immense promise. I have never seen the rate at which his strength, speed, and abilities advanced before, and I trained some of the best fighters in history, including the Ox-King and Goku's grandfather Son Gohan._

 _Interviewer:_ _Goku is still only 18 years old. If he can keep on improving at this rate, how strong could he become? Could he become stronger than you?_

 _Kame-Sen'nin:_ _Goku has long since surpassed me in strength, skill, and endurance, although in terms of tactics I think I'm still better than he is, but that's purely due to experience. How strong he could become I dare not say. Every time I thought I knew Goku he kept on surprising me. Maybe he doesn't have a limit to his ability at all._

 _Interviewer:_ _One notable absentee from this Tournament was your cousin Jackie Chun. He did very well in the previous two tournaments, do you know why he did not participate this time?_

 _Kame-Sen'nin:_ _Jackie Chun unfortunately passed away shortly after the previous tournament. I told him to do more exercises in the morning, they always have this great show on the television to help you out, but morning exercises were never really his thing. But a real shame he passed away, he was an amazing fighter._

 _Interviewer:_ _Oh, I'm sorry about your loss. He was indeed an amazingly skilled fighter. That talent must run in the family. Well then, thanks for answering these questions._

 _With the tournament stadium destroyed, a spokesman from the Tournament has stated it is unclear if and when the next edition for the World Martial Arts Tournament will be held. But severe improvements to the safety of the audience are necessary to prevent future editions from experiencing the dangerous conditions of this edition. As the tournament staff had to make serious repairs to the ring after almost every match, a sturdier ring is definitely required, as ring repairs severely disrupt the pacing of the tournament. Other measures still have to be discussed and investigated._

Well, that was certainly an interesting article. Videl knew that her father had won the 24th edition, which took place roughly eight years ago, as well as the 25th edition of four years ago. Judging by the date above the article, this tournament took place eighteen years ago, so it took them ten years to implement improved safety measurements and rebuild the entire ring. So Goku had been a Martial Arts Champion, and the Champion before her father. Could this be the same Goku as the Goku that Erasa talked about? She didn't really remember exactly how long ago his defeat of the Red Ribbon Army supposedly had taken place according to those villagers, but wasn't it about 20 or 30 years? If Goku was eighteen eighteen years ago, a little bit longer ago would indeed put him in roughly the right age range to match Erasa's story.

Another thing Videl noticed was Goku's family name, Son, which was the same as Gohan's family name. And didn't she see Gohan's name somewhere in there? She scrolled back and looked for the name. Yes, apparently this Son Gohan also trained under Kame-Sen'nin, and he was Goku's grandfather. Could Goku then be, Gohan's father? Goku left with his fiancée right after the tournament. If Gohan was born within a few years after the tournament, Gohan would indeed be around her age. It would be likely that Goku named his son after his grandfather. Altogether it seemed likely that the Gohan she met today in school was the son of Goku, previous World Martial Arts Champion. Then Videl had another thought. _What if Goku taught Gohan how to fight?_ Gohan was around the right age to fit the kid from the Cell Games as well as the Goldfighter, and with Goku as a father he might even have the strength and talent to pull off those feats. But Gohan's hair didn't fit, and neither did his personality. It seemed pretty far-fetched to say Gohan was the Goldfighter. But maybe there were answers to those misfits. Gohan was by far the best lead she had so far to figuring out who the Goldfighter was. She'd definitely have to keep a good eye on him.


	4. The Great Saiyaman

The next couple of days not much interesting happened until Thursday. Videl had not asked Gohan yet about the article she read. Asking Gohan about it would be weird, she hadn't shown much interest in him so far at all, it was primarily Erasa that paid him attention. Maybe she'd have to talk with Erasa about it, Erasa was good at making others feel comfortable, she might be better at getting him to talk than Videl was. At the start of the lunch break, Videl received a call from Mac.

'Hey Videl, there's a hostage situation going on at the Satan Hotel, the guys are armed. We're still negotiating to stall for time waiting for backup, but we could use your help here.' Mac told her.

'Okay, it is lunch break anyway, I'm on my way.' Videl replied. She turned to Erasa and Gohan, who just sat down at their table. 'I'm sorry, but some thugs are busy at the Satan Hotel, I've got to go, see you guys later.' Gohan looked very confused, but Videl had no time to explain. Erasa would explain it to him.

As Videl uncapsuled her airplane and flew off towards the Satan Hotel, she thought about the Goldfighter again. How should she ask Erasa for help? Why was she even struggling with this, she was supposed to be good with this stuff? _Come on Videl, there's a hostage situation at the Hotel, it's dangerous to get distracted!_ Videl then received a message on her phone. It was Mac, who sent her the photos of the thugs taken by the security cameras. It looked like there were four thugs. She landed her airplane behind the police barrier and put it back in its capsule. Mac was already there.

'Hey Videl, good of you to show up so fast. The thugs are still inside, but negotiations turned south, they got impatient and just set fire in the kitchen. I just called the Fire Department, but those guys will probably try to escape under the cover of the fire while we are focused on helping all the people inside. Could you watch the back entrance for us and ambush them if they flee that way?' Mac instructed.

'No problem Mac.' Videl answered and she quickly ran to the back entrance as suddenly a lot of smoke erupted from the central hall of the Hotel. She heard Mac shout to the other officers.

'Move in, fast, they're setting fire on multiple places of the building! Number one priority is to save the people inside!'

As Videl arrived at the back entrance she quickly saw one of the thugs try to sneak away, she recognised him from Mac's photo. Videl was prepared and tackled the guy. As he fell down she quickly cuffed him before he could become more trouble. The back entrance opened again. Videl quickly turned around and got into a fighting position, but it was a group of hostages making their escape from the burning building. As Videl looked closer, she recognised one of them in the back of the group as one of the criminals, he was holding a gun and threatening the hostages, trying to get away under their cover. _Like that's gonna fool me._ Videl had dealt with these kinds of situations before, she just had to disable him before he could react. She blended into the back of the group, and suddenly grabbed his gun arm and pulled it behind him, while kicking him in the lower back. The sudden push forward he felt while she had his arm meant she could quickly take his gun. As he turned around he was already too late, Videl had him at gunpoint. Some police officers that were part of the surrounding support quickly cuffed him and took him away.

'Thanks a lot Videl, we already got the last two as well, they tried to escape through the emergency exit on the west side.'

'No problem guys, it's good training for me and I'm happy to help out.' Videl answered proudly.

At that point there were screams coming from above, a group of people had been trapped inside of the building, and the fire was spreading rapidly, those thugs had set everything on fire!

Videl ran in quickly, she had to help. She didn't know how many people she could save, but she had to at least try. _I could never live with myself if I just let those people die!_ Videl ran upstairs across the fire emergency stairs, which were fireproof. On the 3rd floor she found a family with a crying daughter, maybe about 5 or 6 years old.

'Come on, this way, get out of here!' Videl screamed, pointing at the emergency stairs. A loud sound erupted from below them, and when Videl looked down at the stairs she saw the wall had collapsed on top of the stairs, apparently they hadn't thought of making the walls fireproof as well. And the main staircase was already engulfed in flames. Looking up across the emergency stairs Videl saw a lot of people running down from the floors above, but they had no way to go either.  
Now what?! She wasn't trained for fire hazards. She was a fighter, and she had received excellent additional training from the police to take down armed thugs, but she had no experience with burning buildings. _I'm not going to give up, why isn't that fire department here yet! Wait, the airplane!_ She took out the capsule and looked around. There was no space anywhere for the airplane, uncapsuling it here would just make it fall down and crash. _Darn!_ Then she remembered something.

'Get down everyone, the smoke rises and you don't want to inhale it! Crawl! We can't give up, the fire department is on the way!' Videl shouted as she quickly got down.

As Videl got down below the smoke, she could see a bit better, and looking outside through where once a wall was, she saw a figure approaching. But this figure was wearing the most ridiculous outfit she had ever seen, and he was flying through the sky! _Darn, the smoke is getting to me, I got down too late!_ But the figure stayed in her view and flew towards them fast, it was not some smoke-induced illusion.

'Quick, grab hold of me, hold on tight!' The figure called out, and he quickly put his arm around the little girl who was in complete panic. He grabbed some other children who had come from the floors above, put one on his back, one on his right arm, and one on his left arm, and jumped out. _What's he doing, we're high up!_ But he flew down gracefully, and dropped the children off on the ground near the ambulances that Videl saw down there. _When did they get here?_ Videl couldn't think of an explanation as to why the ambulances were there. The mysterious hero flew back up to them, grabbed three more people, and flew back down again. The fire was still quickly spreading, there wasn't much time left, but only Videl and one old man were still left. The hero flew back up, the man quickly grabbed on, and Videl hesitantly also put her arms around him, holding on tight as the hero jumped.

'I'm taking you immediately to the ambulances, those guys will help you out, are you guys alright?' the hero asked.

The old man couldn't really speak, whether it was the smoke or the shock Videl didn't know. After a few moments he managed to mutter a 'thanks' to him.

'I'm alright.' Videl answered. 'Thanks a lot for your help. Who are you exactly?'

Now that Videl could see him a bit better, she saw that he wore a green outfit that was a bit too long for him, with a red cape that was connected to his green outfit with bright yellow buttons, and a helmet with antenna on them. He suddenly seemed hesitant.

'Well, uhm… just call me the Great Saiyaman.' he answered as he landed next to the ambulances. One of the paramedics quickly offered Videl an oxygen mask, which she happily accepted. With the fresh input of oxygen, she could see a lot clearer again, and her mind also cleared up. She hadn't noticed how much the smoke had been affecting her. Now it suddenly seemed obvious that Mac would have called the ambulances here, they were always called for hostage situations just in case. She looked at the Great Saiyaman, who appeared to be looking at the burning building, seemingly concentrating on something. Videl took her off her oxygen mask for a second.

'Excuse me, but what are you doing?' Videl asked. She had to cough, and the paramedics quickly helped her to put the mask back on.

'I'm trying to sense if there are still people inside.' the Great Saiyaman answered. 'I think you two were the last people in there. Most of the people managed to get out through the emergency exits, the people you were with were the only ones still in there.'

Videl recognised his voice, he sounded like Gohan. Why didn't she recognise it before while he carried her out of the building? And he was also just as tall as Gohan. _Besides, only Gohan would be socially isolated enough to wear that outfit. Wait, did he just say he can sense if there are people inside? And didn't he fly? How did he do that?_

'Well uhmm, I must be going again, maybe I'll see you again some time.' The Great Saiyaman said, and he bowed. Then he flew off before Videl could take off her oxygen mask and say anything else. _Yes that's definitely flying. But how does he do that?_

Before long Mac showed up.

'Thanks a lot Videl, thanks to you we caught all of those guys.' Mac said friendly. 'How are you feeling now?'

'The oxygen helps a lot. It was stupid of me to go in there, I couldn't do anything.' Videl said. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

'I won't lie to you Videl, it wasn't your brightest move.' Mac said calmly. 'But you made it out safely, and if those other people are telling the truth, you did help them out by telling them to stay low. Who knows, that might turn out to make some difference in the end for them.'

'I just feel so useless, that other guy showed up and saved us all, and without him we would all be dead right now!'

'Speaking of which, any idea who that guy was? He flew away before I could talk to him.'

For some reason it didn't feel right to share her suspicion of Gohan with Mac, even though it would make her a bit less useless here. She wasn't sure why she didn't want to share it with Mac.

'I've got a pretty good idea, but I'll need to confirm it first.' Videl decided.

'Did you see him fly?!' Mac called out in amazement. 'How did he even do that?'

'I don't know Mac, but if I'm right about who he is I _will_ find out how he does that.' Videl stated confidently.

'Still as stubborn as ever, aren't you Videl?' Mac commented with a smile.

After about an hour of recovery with her oxygen, eating a bit of lunch provided by the police force, and a final check-up by the paramedics, Videl was finally free to go. When she got back to school she discretely entered the classroom. Erasa lit up seeing Videl again, she looked like she had been worrying. Gohan seemed intent on taking notes, he didn't even seem to notice her entering the room. _Wow, he really is a dork, looking at it from down here it's obvious he's the only one in the classroom actually paying attention!_

Videl sat down next to Erasa, and Erasa immediately focused all her attention on Videl.

'Hey Videl, are you alright? What took you so long?' she whispered. 'You've got some black smudge on your face, like you've been in a fire or something.'

'I'm okay, but those thugs set the hotel on fire when they got impatient, it got quite dangerous, but this isn't really the time to tell you. Let's have dinner together this evening at this place across the square, I'll tell you the entire story then.' Videl whispered back. Gohan still appeared oblivious to her appearance. She'd have to ask him after school.

Despite having missed over half of the class, it still felt like it took forever. Videl didn't pay attention at all, she couldn't focus on the lesson. The Great Saiyaman flying, him sensing whether there were still people left in the building, it consumed her thoughts, she couldn't think of a single way this could have been a magic trick. After an eternity, the lesson finally ended. As Videl walked out with Erasa and Gohan, she had to ask him. She'd make a total fool of herself if she was wrong, but she had to do this.

'Hey Gohan, can we talk somewhere private?' Videl asked him.

Erasa seemed surprised by this, but Videl quickly glanced over to her. Erasa understood immediately, she'd hear about it later.

'Uhmm, sure I guess?' Gohan answered nervously. 'I don't have much time though, it's a long trip back home for me.'

'This won't take long.' Videl assured him. She took Gohan back inside the school, which was now practically empty.

'Did Erasa tell you about where I went during the lunch break?' Videl started.

'Yeah she did, I think it's amazing that you fight crime all on your own.' Gohan answered. 'But uhmm, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?'

'I want you to answer this honestly Gohan,' Videl started, trying to sound much more confident than she felt. 'Are you the Great Saiyaman?'

'No, I'm not! Why would you even think that?! Me, the Great Saiyaman?' Gohan exclaimed.

'But you know who the Great Saiyaman is! I haven't told anyone about him, yet you know!' Videl concluded.

Gohan suddenly realised his mistake, and he seemed to be panicking internally.

'I, I, I thought you had already told everyone?' Gohan stuttered. 'Wasn't he on the news or something?'

'Come on Gohan, you're a terrible liar. I won't tell anyone, but at least be open with me, otherwise I'll have to tell the police about my suspicions of you being the Great Saiyaman.' Videl said.

Gohan seemed to realise he was stuck. Her promise to not tell anyone was his only option.

'How did you know it was me?' Gohan asked.

'Your voice is the same, your behaviour is the same, you talk in the same way, and the way you responded here was the final piece of evidence.'

'Please don't tell anyone Videl, I don't want all that attention.' Gohan begged.

'I told you, I won't tell anyone as long as you're open with me Gohan. After all, you saved my life, it's the least I can do.'

Gohan looked confused. 'What do you mean, be open with you? I already told you I am the Great Saiyaman.'

'A few days ago I read an article about this little kid Goku, Erasa talked about him in her story remember?' Videl started. 'He has the same family name as you, and he's a former World Martial Arts Champion. I'm pretty sure that he's your father.'

Gohan could only nod, stunned that she knew this.

'I knew it. It fit too well. What I want to know is, how do you fly? How did you sense those people in the building? Are those things your father can also do? Is it some genetic mutation only your family can do?'

'Oh no, flying and sensing people are skills you can learn with sufficient practice.' Gohan answered.

'How?'

'You want to learn how to fly?' Gohan asked.

'Yes, and how you can sense people.' Videl concluded.

'It isn't really something I can just tell you here and you can do it.' Gohan hesitated. Videl had already anticipated that answer, and she had her reply ready. She wouldn't let this opportunity slip that easily.

'You know what, I'll come to your house this Saturday, there's nobody living near your house right? You can teach me then.' Videl offered without really offering Gohan any possibility to refuse.

Gohan sighed. 'I guess that's alright. I don't know how long it will take you to learn, that really varies from person to person.'

'That's fine. I'll see you tomorrow Gohan, have a nice trip home.'

'You too Videl.'

* * *

That evening Videl had her dinner with Erasa. Erasa wanted to know everything about what happened at the Satan Hotel, so Videl told her.

'A guy that could fly?!' Erasa called out loudly.

'Yes, I'm sure he flew, everyone saw it! And he carried several people including me out of the Hotel.' Videl said.

'Wow!' Erasa called out in awe and jealousy. 'That's so cool! Last week this Goldfighter with superpowers shows up and stops those bank robbers, then this week another guy with superpowers shows up and saves you and several other people from a burning building. Has there been some leakage at a nuclear power plant or something that I don't know about?!'

Videl laughed loudly. 'I know right, if this continues I might be out of a job.'

'Did you ask him who he was?' Erasa asked curiously.

'He called himself the Great Saiyaman, he didn't say his real name.' Videl answered. She debated internally about whether or not to tell Erasa Gohan was him, but decided against it. Videl had promised Gohan to keep it a secret, and she still owed him for saving her life and teaching her how to fly. As if Erasa could read her mind, she then started talking about Gohan.

'By the way, what did you want to talk to Gohan about in private? You two didn't hook up did you?'

'Eww!' Videl exclaimed. 'Of course not!'

Erasa giggled at Videl's reaction.

'Alright then, I'm just saying. But what was it really?'

Videl didn't know exactly how much to tell Erasa. She had promised Gohan her secrecy after all. But that was only about Gohan being the Great Saiyaman, she could still talk about Gohan's dad.

'Remember that story you told me on Monday about that boy Goku who beat an entire army?'

Erasa nodded and motioned for her to continue.

'Well, I went online and looked up this Goku. Turns out he really exists, and he was the World Martial Arts Champion before my dad became the Champion.'

Erasa was surprised. 'Really? I thought it was just a weird story. But what does Gohan have to do with it?'

'Well, turns out that Goku also has a family name, his full name is Son Goku according to that article on the Tournament. Today Gohan confirmed that Goku is indeed his dad.'

Erasa almost exploded.

'NO WAY, NO WAY!' Erasa screamed out so loudly Videl feared they might get kicked out of the restaurant. Videl quickly shushed Erasa down. 'Gohan's dad fought off an entire army on his own?'

'Apparently he did. But please keep quiet about this Erasa, I don't think Gohan wants everyone to know.'

Videl didn't really understand why Gohan wanted to keep all these things a secret, shouldn't you be proud of such things? Once again, Erasa seemed to be able to read Videl's mind.

'That makes sense, Gohan has quite some trouble fitting in, he is kind of awkward, and I think he fears it would be even harder to fit in if people saw him as special or different.' Erasa said thoughtfully. 'But I promise, I won't tell anyone about this, not even Gohan. He seems like a good guy, he doesn't deserve all that obnoxious attention from random people who just want to know every little detail of those stories.'

Erasa got excited again.

'So Videl, does Gohan's dad really fly around on a golden cloud?'


	5. What is ki?

On Saturday morning Videl was nervous, she hesitated. What if she couldn't do it? What would Gohan think if she couldn't manage to fly, what if she just stayed on the ground when she tried to fly? _Come on Videl, just do this._ Before she could allow her doubts to overcome her, she quickly went outside and uncapsuled her airplane. Her confidence grew again during the flight. It was quite a long flight, Gohan probably flew to school. Even if she didn't manage to fly right away, or sense anything, Gohan would probably help her out, he wasn't the kind of guy to bully her about it. What was it that she was actually worried about? _He'll teach me how to fly, and he also saved my life, and what am I doing for him? Keeping his secret?_ It didn't sound like a very fair deal. Maybe it was guilt that was making her worried.

After about ninety minutes of flying Videl found Gohan's house. It looked like a small house, standing on top of a hill in the middle of a forest. His house seemed to be composed of a domed structure that was usually found in the cities, and attachments that resembled farmhouses from a long time ago. It didn't appear to have any upper floors. Gohan really lived in the middle of nowhere, Videl wondered what Gohan had been doing out here growing up, what kind of hobbies he had. Videl landed her airplane, put it back in its capsule, and walked to the door.

There didn't appear to be any doorbell, so Videl took a breath and knocked on the door. _No turning back now Videl!_ After a few moments a little boy opened the door. He looked about six or seven years old, with messy black hair that was longer than Gohan's, but Videl saw some similarities, this must be Gohan's brother that he talked about. Videl introduced herself.

'Hello there, my name is Videl, I'm looking for Gohan.'

'Hello Miss Videl, my name is Son Goten.' the boy answered, and he bowed. 'You must be the Miss Videl that Gohan was talking about. If you want to learn how to fly, I can teach you too.' Goten added with excitement in his face.

'Wait, you're going to teach me how to fly?' Videl asked. She hadn't expected this, she thought Gohan would teach her.

'Yeah, I already learned how to fly, see!' Goten said eagerly, and with that he rose up into the air and flew quickly into the sky. He descended, and flew several laps around their house, he seemed to have excellent control. Then Goten flew back up and made several loops, with a broad grin on his face the entire time. He was clearly trying to impress Videl with his flying skill, trying to turn his flying into a show. Videl could only stare dumbfounded. _If a little boy can already fly so well, I should be able to do it too, it can't be that difficult._

'Goten!'

A woman screamed Goten's name from the inside, and she ran to the door of the house and exited. The woman looked up at Goten flying around and had her hands on her hips. _This must be Gohan's mother._

'We already talked about this Goten, you're still too young to be teaching someone! Gohan was asked to teach her, not you.'

'Aww, but mom, I can fly really well too.' Goten said disappointedly, making another loop trying to prove his point.

'I know you like flying Goten, so why don't you go and get groceries at the village?' the woman said. 'Here, come down and take the list. Also, here's some money.' She handed over the grocery list and the money to Goten as he landed.

'Alright mom, I'll go and get the groceries.' Goten flew off quickly.

'Don't forget NOT to fly in the village Goten!' the mother screamed after him.

'Okay mom!' Goten screamed back.

With that the woman turned to Videl.

'Sorry about that. He just learned how to fly and now he thinks it's the greatest thing ever.' She said. 'You must be Videl, the girl Gohan said would come here today for her lessons in ki. My name is Chi-Chi, I'm Gohan's mother.' And she bowed.

'Nice to meet you, I'm indeed Videl.' Videl replied, bowing too. 'Did you say ki? What does that mean?'

'You don't know what ki is?' Chi-Chi seemed surprised. 'Well, I think Gohan can explain it better than I can. He's doing his homework, I'll go and get him.'

Before long Gohan appeared.

'Hey Videl, I didn't expect you to come this early.'

'My airplane is pretty fast and I want to have sufficient time to learn this.' Videl said confidently.

'Fair enough I guess.' Gohan said. 'Let's go that way, there's a small clearing of the forest there were we can practice.' He pointed.

The clearing was really close. Gohan started.

'Well, uhmm, you wanted to learn how to sense people and how to fly right?'

'Yes, that's right.'

'Okay, well. Sensing people and flying are both techniques that are based on your ki. How much experience do you have with ki from your martial arts training?' Gohan asked.

 _There's that word again. Ki? What's that? I don't think I've ever heard of that._

'I don't think I have any, I've never heard of ki before.' Videl said.

'Maybe they call it something different where you're from?' Gohan offered. Videl got a bit annoyed, how was she supposed to know if she had no clue what ki was?

'But what IS ki?' Videl asked, and she couldn't completely hide the annoyance in her voice. Gohan flinched slightly from her voice.

'I'm sorry. Ki is a form of energy inside living beings. Everybody has it, even animals and plants.' Gohan tried again. 'With practice, you can learn to sense your ki, control it, and sense the ki of other beings as well.'

It didn't ring any bells for Videl.

'What do you mean, controlling your ki?' Videl asked.

'It might be easier if I show you.'

Gohan sat down and held his hands open but close together, as if he was holding an invisible ball.

'First you search for your ki. Concentrate, but relax and don't tense up. Once you find it, try to guide it, not force it, to wherever you want, like now to my hands.' Gohan said, and his hands started glowing. They started to glow more, and then the glow separated from his hands and formed what looked like a ball of light inside of his hands.

'Now I've brought the ki outside of my body.' Gohan said. 'Do you have any experience with this?'

Videl had never seen anything like that before, she was sure of that. Gohan dissipated his ki.

'I've never seen anything like that ever before in my life.' Videl said. 'Does that mean that I can't learn these things if I don't have ki?'

'You can still learn it Videl. Everyone who is alive has ki, including you.' Gohan reassured her. 'I can sense where other people are by sensing their ki, I can sense your ki right now actually.'

 _How did that work? How can he sense my ki if it's not in his own body?_

'How do you do that? My ki is not in your body is it? I can't even sense it!'

'Your body always consumes a bit of ki to stay alive. This consumed ki is radiated out of your body in all directions. I can sense that part of your ki.'

'What happens if you run out of ki?' Videl asked. If you were constantly consuming ki eventually you would run out right?

'Your body replenishes it naturally from the food you eat and the air you breathe. You shouldn't be able to run out of ki. If you consume so much ki that your body can't replenish it fast enough you will grow fatigued and eventually pass out so your body gets time to replenish.' Gohan answered.

'You will also find that with practice, your body will become more accustomed to using ki, and will replenish it faster and more efficiently, so you will be able to use more and more for stronger effects, eventually becoming strong enough to fly.'

'So it's a bit like a muscle, it grows stronger if you train it.' Videl said.

'Exactly. But let's start with the beginning. Relax your respiration, relax your muscles, and concentrate on the area around your stomach. Try to feel your energy, try to bring it out.'

Videl did what Gohan said, concentrating around her stomach. It wasn't easy to concentrate so hard and at the same time relaxing her respiration. Gohan stopped her.

'You're focusing too much on how you are breathing Videl, you can't relax it by focusing on it. Focus on your stomach, and let your respiration just be.'

Videl tried to follow Gohan's instructions, focusing more on the area around her stomach. Gohan was watching her. After a while, Gohan interrupted her again.

'You're being a bit too tense Videl, try to relax.'

'It's just that I can't feel it.' Videl said emotionally. 'I really want to do this, why can't I do this?'

'You're too demanding on yourself Videl, you have never asked your body to use ki before, you will have to get used to it. It takes time. Relax, and wait it out.'

Videl tried again. _I explored my entire stomach at least a billion times now, how difficult is this ki to find?_ She still couldn't feel out anything. How long had she been sitting in the grass? Half an hour? Videl didn't know. _But I will find this ki and learn this, even if it takes me a year to do so._ She wasn't about to give up now, not after coming all the way here and Gohan spending time he could also spend on his homework trying to teach her. _Come on Videl, back to your stomach, relax. Don't think of anything else._ The weird thing was that it was hard to think of nothing when you had to. Goten would probably be far too loud and distracting when trying to teach her how to fly. _That's probably why Chi-Chi didn't want him to teach me. Would Goten already be back with the groceries? How fast could he fly exactly? Well, I will find out once I learn how to fly. Distracted again! My thoughts are annoying. What did Gohan say again? Just relax and wait it out._ Videl felt her body, she felt how she sat on the grass. She felt her legs on the grass, her stomach, her torso, her arms, and her head. And then she felt it. She felt something weird in her lower chest, it felt warm and chaotic, like a small candle was burning inside of her. _Was that her ki? What should she do now?_ As she got distracted, she didn't feel it anymore.

'I felt something!' Videl proclaimed. 'But what should I do once I find it?'

'That's great Videl!' Gohan encouraged. 'You're good at this, you found it quite fast. Once you find it, just focus on it. Try to feel how it feels. Try to remember your ki.'

Videl tried again. This time it was much easier to find it, and she focused on it. How did it feel? It was chaotic, warm, energetic, dancing around a bit like a flame, but it didn't feel dangerous. Somehow, it felt very natural, like it had always been there.

'That's indeed your ki Videl!' Gohan encouraged. 'Try to influence it, simply concentrate and let your body figure out how to do that.'

 _What should I try? I'll direct it to my hands like Gohan did._

Videl tried following his instructions. She concentrated on her ki, and tried to tell it to move to her hands, but it didn't change at all. _Maybe I should relax a bit more._ Videl went back to simply focusing on her ki as an observer. She tried to move it a bit up, very gently. She felt her ki move up slightly, and suddenly she felt a bit more weight on her legs. This startled her, and Videl lost her concentration.

'That was really good Videl, you're a natural.' Gohan encouraged.

'I suddenly felt more weight on my legs, what happened there?' Videl asked.

'You moved your ki upwards a bit. When you accelerate your ki upwards, you're also pushing yourself downwards. Once moving your ki around feels a bit more natural and easy, you can push your ki downwards, force it out of your body, and by doing so force yourself upwards so you can fly.'

'So you consume more ki, forcing it out of your body, when you fly?'

'That's right.' Gohan seemed impressed that Videl understood this so quickly.

By then it was time for the lunch break. Videl was surprised at how much time had passed, she had arrived at Gohan's house at around half past nine, and it was already around twelve o'clock. Time had really flown. Chi-Chi had already set the table for four people. Videl wondered where Gohan's dad was. Maybe he was at work or something. As they all sat down and started eating, Videl thanked Chi-Chi for the lunch, it tasted very good.

'No problem Videl, I'm glad you like it.' Chi-Chi said.

'It's really good Chi-Chi. I should give this recipe to our cook!'

'Your cook? Do your parents have a restaurant?' Chi-Chi asked.

'No, I mean the cook that cooks in our house.' Videl said.

'You have your own cook? Your family must be pretty well off. What do your parents do for a living?'

 _She doesn't know! Everyone knows my dad has gotten rich from all the interviews and media attention, this family is so sheltered._

'My father earned quite a lot of money by winning the World Martial Arts Tournament twice.' Videl answered. 'And he also gets a lot of money from all kinds of magazines and tv shows that want to interview him or have him on the show.'

'The World Martial Arts Tournament?' Chi-Chi seemed confused. 'Does that still exist? I remember back in the day it was so dangerous, I thought they'd never bring it back.'

'The World Martial Arts Tournament?' Goten asked. 'What is that?'

Videl answered. 'It's a tournament held once every four years, where the strongest fighters from the entire world come together and have fights to see who is the best fighter in the entire world. I am actually entering the next one in a couple of weeks.'

Goten seemed to get excited. 'Oh really?! Mom, can I go there too?! I want to fight too, I'm really good already!'

'No Goten, you are still too young.' Chi-Chi answered. 'As far as I'm concerned only adults should be entering. I still remember the last time I was there, it was far too dangerous for a child.'

'But mom, you let me fight with Gohan sometimes.' Goten begged.

'I trust Gohan that he won't put you in real danger when fighting you, because Gohan is a nice and good man.' Chi-Chi said. 'But at the Tournament there are also some guys that are not nice at all, some of the guys that go there are dangerous and don't care if they put their opponents in serious danger. Last time I was there several fighters including your father almost died!'

Goten seemed really sad with that answer. Videl felt sorry for him.

'Wouldn't Goten fight in the Junior Division if he entered? They don't allow children in the adult competition anymore.' Videl said.

For a second Chi-Chi looked furious at Videl for trying to interfere. But then she looked confused.

'What do you mean?'

'Everyone under sixteen fights in the Junior Division, everyone of sixteen or older fights in the adult competition.' Videl answered. 'I won the last Junior Division championship, but now I'm too old for it and have to compete in the adult division.'

'I don't remember any of that.' Chi-Chi said. 'That must be a new rule.'

'It's quite new, they introduced it when they started the Tournament back up. The adult division was apparently deemed too unsafe for children after the entire stadium got destroyed once.'

'Oh mom, can I join the Junior Division then? Please?' Goten started again.

Chi-Chi considered this. She turned to Videl.

'Is the Junior Division just for fun, or is there also prize money?'

'There's also prize money, but it's not as much as for the adult competition. It's still quite a lot though.'

'I'm not sure if we can afford the tickets Goten.' Chi-Chi said. 'Videl, would you be able to arrange something with your father regarding tickets? Gohan is teaching you about ki for free right now after all.'

Videl considered this. She had not told her dad about her lessons with Gohan, he'd think it was just magic tricks and probably forbid her to go this far away to go to a boy's house, especially a boy who he never even met. But she did owe Gohan quite a bit, not only for the lessons but also for saving her life, and she could probably get some tickets without her dad's help. She was the Junior Division Champion after all.

'Yes, I can probably get you some tickets for the Tournament, that shouldn't be much of a problem.' Videl answered.

'That would be great if you could arrange that Videl.' Chi-Chi said gracefully. She then turned to Gohan.

'Gohan, why don't you enter as well?'

Gohan seemed surprised by the suggestion.

'Me? Enter the Tournament?'

'Yes, we could really use the prize money.' Chi-Chi continued. 'Besides, if Goten is entering the Junior Division, we could make it into a family trip.'

Gohan seemed hesitant.

'But I don't want everyone to see that I can fight, I don't want all that attention. Don't you think people will treat me differently in school?'

Videl was curious to Gohan's fighting ability. If Chi-Chi didn't think the Tournament was dangerous for Gohan, despite everything Videl read about the 23rd Tournament being so dangerous, Gohan must be pretty strong.

'Why don't you enter as the Great Saiyaman Gohan?' Videl suggested. 'That way you can keep your identity secret and still compete.'

Chi-Chi was elated by the suggestion. 'That's a great idea Videl, thanks a lot for the suggestion! It's also really noble of you to help Gohan compete while he would be a competitor of you there.'

Videl blushed a bit at that compliment, it felt a bit like Chi-Chi was overacting her enthusiasm and grace to Videl, she wasn't sure what to make of it. Meanwhile, Gohan looked like he was out of options.

'Alright then, I'll enter the Tournament as well.' Gohan said defeated.


	6. Ki progress and rage

After the lunch Videl and Gohan went back to the clearing. The weather was really good.

'You were doing really well before lunch Videl. I think it's best if you continue trying to control your ki, keep on practicing.' Gohan said. 'With practice, it should start to feel much more natural after a while. I'll stay here and work on my homework in the meantime, if you have any questions or any trouble, I'll be right here.'

 _He's such a nerd, even going to study on a beautiful day like this. Anyway, back to my ki practice._

Gohan uncapsuled his bag filled with his books and notes, and started working. Around 3 o'clock Videl was really starting to get the hang of it. She had no trouble finding her ki at all, and she could control it quite well inside of her body. Videl noticed how her body tried to move around in correspondence with how she moved her ki. Maybe it was time to try and move her ki out of her body like Gohan did earlier. Videl opened up her hands like holding a ball, and tried to direct her ki to her hands. Slowly, she felt her ki travelling through her body, through her arms, to her hands. Videl tried to guide the ki all the way out of her hands. Her hands started to feel like they were tingling a bit, and felt a bit warm. Eventually, the ki came out. Videl tried directing more ki into her hands, and she managed to form her ki into a ball, like Gohan had done before. What could she do with it? Gohan was busy with his homework, he didn't appear to have already noticed what Videl was doing. She focused more of her ki into the ball, and it grew a bit brighter. Videl felt she still had some control over the ki in the ball. She tried directing the ki in her hands to Gohan. And sure enough, slowly, the ball of ki moved towards Gohan. She tried moving the ball up, and down, to the left, and to the right. The ball wasn't very fast, but she had some control over it. It was kind of surreal seeing this ball move up and down under Videl's control, while she wasn't even touching it.

Gohan noticed Videl's ball of ki.

'Wow, that's amazing Videl!' Gohan proclaimed. 'I never expected you to have that much control on your first day already. You're a natural!'

Videl was startled by Gohan's attention, and her concentration was gone. The ball of ki dissipated quickly in the air. Videl was then suddenly hit with fatigue.

'Thanks Gohan. Let's take a little break, I feel a bit tired.'

'Sure thing. That's normal in the beginning when you start using your ki. That fatigue will decrease as your body gets used to it.'

'Gohan, can I ask you something?'

'Yeah sure, what is it?'

'You didn't seem to be very enthusiastic about fighting in the Tournament. Do you have much experience with fighting?'

'I used to fight a lot more, years ago. My father always wanted me to become a fighter, stronger than he ever was, he taught me a lot. But my mother wanted me to get an education. Neither my mother nor my father ever got a proper education when they were young. They never really had any reliable jobs, and my mother wants me to have a better future.'

'And what do _you_ want Gohan?'

'I don't really like fighting. I don't like how it always comes with having to hurt or injure your opponents. I want to become a scholar, and make the world a better place. I don't want to offend your hobbies Videl, but I don't see how I can improve the world by fighting in a Tournament and hurting opponents. What's the point?'

 _Well that's awfully blunt of him._

'Goten seemed very enthusiastic about the Tournament though.' Videl offered.

'Goten inherited my father's love of fighting and his careless nature. He just sees it as a sport, fighting is just a game to him. Goten doesn't understand the dangers of fighting. He has never experienced it.'

Then Gohan shivered and flinched, as if he remembered something painful. It looked like Gohan, unlike Goten, had experienced real dangers in fighting, but he didn't seem willing to talk about it.

'Where is your father actually? I was actually expecting to see him when I came here.'

Gohan looked away.

'My father died seven years ago, not too long before Goten was born.' Gohan answered without looking at Videl. 'Goten never met his father.'

 _Way to pick an even more painful subject trying to avoid the painful subjects Videl!_

'I'm so sorry, that must have been terrible. I didn't know he died.' Videl apologised. 'Do you want to talk about it?'

'Not really.' Gohan said. 'I'm sorry Videl, I know you must be curious to my father after you heard that story from Erasa, but I really don't want to talk about it.'

That made her angry. He was implying that she didn't care about his feelings at all, that she was just some selfish girl stubbornly wanting to know how Gohan's dad had done those things above all else.

'I'm not just fishing for information Gohan, I can see that your father's death is still painful to you.' Videl said loudly. 'But for some people it helps to talk about it.'

Gohan flinched from her outburst.

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that Videl.'

Seeing Gohan flinch, and seeing his vulnerability in this subject, quickly calmed Videl down.

'I'm sorry Gohan, I didn't mean to get angry.' Videl said quietly. 'You're right, I am curious to your father, and how he did those things, and I want to learn how to do those things too. But I didn't mean to be insensitive to you about it.' Videl paused for a moment to think. 'It must be hard for you. Do you have anyone you can talk to about your father's death?'

Gohan thought about that. 'Not really.'

'You don't have to talk to me about it.' Videl said. 'But once you're ready, maybe you could try talking to Erasa about it. She's really good in conversations, she's a lot more sensitive about these things than I am. She's been my best friend for years, you can really trust her.'

Gohan's eyes started to form tears.

'I don't know, I don't want everyone to know how my father died.'

'Why not? It's not your fault he died.'

Gohan suddenly had an outburst.

'I don't want to talk about it Videl!' he shouted, and for the first time Videl felt something emanating from Gohan, it felt a bit like her own ki, but different. Was this Gohan's ki? But more importantly Gohan was angry now.

'I'm really sorry Gohan, let's talk about something else.' Videl said with her hands up. 'I'm sorry I brought it up.'

Gohan's eyes were still filled with tears, but he seemed to calm down quickly.

'What do you want to talk about?' he asked quietly.

Videl thought for a moment. What did she want to talk about? She was curious to Gohan's past, and how Gohan's dad had died, but that was too painful for Gohan to talk about. She felt guilty to Gohan for making him feel this way. What would be a comfortable subject for Gohan to talk about? Then she noticed Gohan's books in the grass.

'You said you want to become a scholar and make the world a better place.' Videl started. 'What would you like to research?'

'I want to research ki more. Not many of the underlying physics are understood yet.' Gohan started. 'I think it's because ki control originated from the world of martial arts long ago but is nowadays very obscure, even within that world, judging by the fact that even you didn't know about ki. Most scientists have never come in contact with ki control, while the few martial artists that even know about ki don't have any connections whatsoever in science. I think that if we could figure out more about how ki works we might be able to use it in a lot of new ways to improve our world.'

Gohan seemed to calm down a lot by telling that story. To Gohan, it was a story of hope. A dream that could one day come true.

'That's amazing Gohan.' Videl said encouragingly. 'You're also a really smart guy, and you're spending so much effort in your education, I'm sure you can do it.'

'Well uhmm, thanks Videl.' Gohan said while blushing a bit. He looked a bit embarrassed over his earlier outburst.

'I'm going to try to fly now Gohan, watch me.' Videl said, and she focused again on her ki. She guided her ki downwards, through her legs, through her feet, out of her body. And Videl felt her weight decrease, it felt as if standing in an elevator that started to move downwards, but she didn't lift off yet. Videl tried directing more ki downwards, and she felt her weight decrease further. She could do this.

Eventually, Videl felt completely weightless, and upon looking down she saw her toes only barely touched the ground. She was flying! And then Videl fell over, catching herself with her hands. Gohan quickly joined her side.

'Are you okay Videl?' Gohan asked concerned.

'I'm okay, a little fall won't bring me down Gohan.' Videl answered. She didn't want Gohan to be concerned for her, she could take care of herself! 'But I hovered Gohan! I did it!'

'Indeed you did. I never would have expected you to advance so quickly on your first day. It's amazing.'

'But how do you keep your balance in the air without touching the ground?' Videl asked.

'You use your ki to compensate any instabilities, similar to how you shift your weight between your legs when standing normally. In the beginning you'll probably fall quite a bit, but with practice you should be able to hover without paying specific attention to your balance.' Gohan answered.

'So I should just keep on practicing until my body is used to flying?' Videl concluded.

'That's right Videl. When it comes to controlling your ki, practice helps a lot. The more you practice, the easier it will be, and the faster you will be able to fly.'

Videl looked at her phone, it was already 4 o'clock. Flying back to Satan City would take a while too, so she'd better get back.

'I should probably be going back Gohan, it's a long flight back.' Videl said. 'But I'll come back tomorrow, I think I need more practice with flying, and you still have to teach me how to sense other people.'

'Uhmm, okay then.' Gohan said. 'Have a safe trip back, and I'll see you tomorrow.'

As Videl uncapsuled her airplane and entered, Gohan bowed to her. He was so awkward.

'Gohan, you don't have to bow every time to me anymore, we're friends now okay?' Videl commented, and she flew off.

Videl had a lot to think about during her flight back. She had managed to fly, sort-of, and created that glowing ball of ki that she could move around in the air. Videl was certainly satisfied with her progress. And the Tournament… Gohan would be entering as well. Apparently he hadn't really fought for a long time, so the decision to fight in the Tournament was kind of strange, how much chance would he make? _He isn't gonna beat my dad, that's for sure, and probably not me either._ But then again, Gohan didn't exactly decide himself to join, his mother kind of made that decision for him. Gohan didn't seem to like fighting, he seemed to be scared of it. On the other hand, Videl was curious to Gohan's abilities. If Gohan's mom didn't think it was dangerous for Gohan to enter, despite experiencing the most dangerous Tournament in history, she must have a lot of faith in his fighting abilities.

And there was Gohan's dead father. Despite having died years ago, it was still a very sensitive subject for Gohan. Gohan probably hadn't had anyone to talk to about it for all those years. Videl didn't really know if she could help Gohan out with his father issues, Gohan didn't look like he wanted to talk about it. Maybe she should talk to Erasa about it. Videl was conflicted, should she tell Erasa or not? Erasa was her best friend, it felt wrong to keep secrets from her, while on the other hand she had promised Gohan her secrecy, and if Videl didn't keep that promise Gohan would probably never trust her again, maybe even refuse to teach her about ki. And if she asked Erasa help with Gohan's father issues Erasa was surely going to be curious as to how Videl found out and why she suddenly felt responsible.

When Videl arrived home, she received a message on her phone. Apparently Mac had tried calling her earlier today. There probably wasn't any reception near Gohan's house. She called him back.

'Hey Videl, I couldn't reach you earlier today.'

'Yeah, no reception, sorry about that.' Videl said.

'I wanted to ask you something. Did you find out anything about the Goldfighter? We still have no idea who he is.'

'Well, my dad thinks the Goldfighter might be the same guy as the kid who was there at the Cell Games all those years ago. Apparently both had the same glowing golden hair and were really strong. But I've got no idea who the kid from the Cell Games was either, it doesn't really bring us any closer.'

'The boy from the Cell Games?' Mac was interested. 'We can probably dig up some footage from back then and see if that makes sense. But nobody from your school then?'

'Nobody in school seems to have any clue who he is. Maybe he just used the badge to confuse those trying to figure out who he is.' Videl answered.

'Fair enough. And what about the guy from Thursday, the flying one with the helmet?'

'I figured out who that is, but I promised him to keep his identity secret, it's important to him.'

'Come on Videl, you're on our side right, you know how important this is?' Mac was a bit annoyed.

'You know what. I'll talk to him, and I'll try to convince him to meet up with you. Can you promise to keep his identity confidential? He doesn't want dozens of reporters visiting him at his house.'

'I guess we can keep his identity confidential. But please try to get him to contact us, you know how much this matters.'

'Sure thing, I'll talk to him tomorrow about it.'


	7. Lessons continue

On Sunday, Videl arrived early at Gohan's house, around 9 o'clock in the morning. _Wow, she's certainly eager to learn this._ But yesterday's outburst when Videl talked about Goku's death still bugged Gohan.

'Hey Videl. How's it going?'

'It's going well Gohan,' Videl answered. 'I practiced a lot more yesterday evening.'

Gohan began when they got back to the clearing. It was again a beautiful day.

'Videl, before we begin, I wanted to apologise to you for shouting at you yesterday.' Gohan said. 'It wasn't fair to you, it's not your fault my father died.'

'Oh, that's fine Gohan, I can take some heat.' Videl dismissed. 'I've experienced far worse. I actually wanted to ask you about something else.'

 _She'd better not start about dad again._

'What is it Videl?'

'I got a call yesterday from Satan City police.' Videl started. 'They've asked me to figure out who the Great Saiyaman is, they want to talk to him. I haven't told them you were him, but I told them I knew who the Great Saiyaman was, and I promised them to try and convince you to go talk to them.'

Gohan immediately imagined all kinds of reporters showing up, and everyone in the entire city wanting to learn how to fly.

'But, I really don't want all that attention Videl, I told you.' Gohan said desperately. 'What if the entire city shows up trying to learn how to fly?'

'Don't worry about that, they'll treat your identity confidential. Only the top guys at the police will know who you really are, so they can contact you if they need you.'

Gohan considered this. If they just wanted to set up some cooperation, but not let reporters know who he was, that would be a lot better.

'Are you sure they wouldn't tell anyone?'

'Listen Gohan, they don't have anything to gain and everything to lose by spilling your identity. They won't, I promise.' Videl said. 'You know what? I'll call him right now and tell him that if he dares to tell it to anyone, I will stop working with them.' And Videl took out her phone.

'Oh darn, no reception out here. I forgot about that. Well then, I'll call him as soon as I'm back home today.'

 _Wow, she's actually doing that. I guess I can do it then._

'Alright Videl, I guess I'll talk to them.' Gohan said. 'Do you know who I should be talking to?'

'Yes, once you go to the precinct, tell them you want to talk to Mac. He's the guy that also assists me when I hunt down thugs, he's a good guy - you can rely on him.'

'Okay, I'll talk to him. Would tomorrow after school be okay for him?'

'I'm pretty sure it would be, I'll call him this evening and tell him, he'll make sure he's there.'

Then they started the lesson again. Videl started by showing off how much she progressed with her practice since yesterday. Videl actually managed to hover a little bit and already had a lot better balance than yesterday. _Her progress is really astonishing, she's really working hard for this._

'See, I can already hover a little bit without falling over!' Videl said excitedly.

'That's truly amazing Videl. You might not even need me anymore.' Gohan said enthusiastically.

Videl landed again. She seemed a bit tired.

'It still drains a lot of my energy, it's really tiring.' Videl said.

'That's nothing to worry about Videl, remember that you are carrying your entire weight just with your ki when you fly, your body needs to get used to that.' Gohan reassured her. 'With the speed at which you're progressing, it shouldn't take you too long.'

After a little bit of practice, Goten showed up, flying towards them and landing.

'Hey Gohan!' Goten said loudly. 'When are we going to train for the Tournament? Trunks said that he's also going to fight, and he's going to train with his dad so we need to train too.'

Then Goten noticed Videl.

'Hello Miss Videl.' Goten said, and he bowed to her. 'Do you want to join our fighting training too, or are you still here to learn how to fly?'

Videl was quick to answer.

'Good morning Goten. Gohan is still busy teaching me.'

'You still can't fly? It's really easy, just do it like this.' Goten said, and he flew into the sky, making all sorts of stunts, loops, and rapid turns showing off how good he could fly.

Gohan quickly flew into the sky too and caught up with Goten.

'Hey Goten. I get that you like flying, but didn't mom say that you shouldn't interfere with Videl's lessons?'

'But Gohan, she still can't even fly, and it's taking away time from our fighting training.' Goten argued. 'How am I going to beat Trunks if you aren't training me? At least if I teach Videl she'll learn how to fly really really fast.'

Gohan seriously doubted whether Goten actually had any teaching skills. Gohan may not be a great teacher, but he was certainly better than Goten. In the meantime, Gohan noticed Videl was still on the ground looking up at them. Then Gohan felt Videl forcing her ki downwards again. Videl flew up to them, and stopped accelerating right next to them. They had to be at least 15 metres in the air, if she fell…

'Goten, it won't take that long anymore.' Videl said. 'Please just listen to your mother, if she says it's okay for you to join us then you can, otherwise you can't.'

'Aww, okay then Miss Videl.' Goten said. 'But you'd better learn it quickly.' And with that he flew off to their house.

'Let's land Gohan.' Videl said, and she descended down, while Gohan followed her. She was breathing heavily, that little flight tired her out. _But she actually managed to fly really well already!_

'Amazing Videl, you managed to go so high already without losing your balance, and you have great control!' Gohan said.

'Goten doesn't seem to be impressed.' Videl said.

 _Goten just screws up everything, little brothers are so annoying sometimes._

'Well uhmm, Goten's had a lot more practice already than you have. He's already been flying for a couple of weeks now, and already had a lot of practice with his ki before that.' Gohan said. 'Besides, he's still very young, he doesn't realise it takes time to learn how to control your ki, he thinks flying is easy because it's easy for him _now_.'

'Goten seems pretty confident he has a shot at the Tournament isn't he?' Videl remarked. 'How old is he, seven or something? Does he realise that there are also quite a lot of fifteen year olds that enter the Junior Division?'

'I don't think he fully realises that.' Gohan said. 'But Goten is also really good at fighting for his age, he's very talented.'

'Like your dad? I read he already reached the finals when he was only twelve even before they actually introduced the Junior Division.'

'I guess so yes, Goten inherited my father's talent at fighting.'

'And what about you Gohan?' Videl asked. 'Do you think you've got a chance to get far at the Tournament?'

 _Why does she keep on asking these questions? What should I tell her now?_

'I don't know, I've never been to a Tournament before, I don't know how good I am by comparison.' Gohan answered, but Videl already seemed to have a reply ready.

'Why don't you have a go against me?' Videl offered eagerly. 'I've been there a few times and I'm among the strongest fighters there, so if you do well against me you should be okay.'

 _No no no no no, she'll think I'm a freak if she figures out how strong I am!_

'But, but, Videl, what if I hurt you?' Gohan said desperately. 'I don't want to fight you.'

'Come on Gohan, I may be small but I can take a beating. I just wanna see how good you are!'

 _Maybe I should just refuse like mom does, take a stand Gohan!_

'Videl, I said no.' Gohan said, attempting to sound strict. 'I don't like fighting, I don't want to fight you. Why don't you continue practicing with your ki? Maybe we'll fight at the Tournament anyway.'

Goten returned. 'Hey Gohan, Miss Videl, mom told me to go and get you for lunch.' He said.

'That's great, your mother is a great cook.' Videl said eagerly. 'Let's go.'

Gohan was happy with the distraction, but he wondered what he would do if he ended up getting matched up with Videl or her dad at the Tournament. Gohan didn't have an answer for that yet.

Chi-Chi seemed to want to be a good host to Videl, and addressed her during the lunch.

'How are the ki lessons going Videl?' Chi-Chi asked.

'They're going really well, I can already fly a little bit.' Videl answered. 'It's just very exhausting.'

'That's really good Videl.' Chi-Chi replied kindly. 'How long did it take you to learn how to fly Gohan?'

Gohan thought for a minute. It had been a long time ago when Piccolo taught him how to fly. He was just a little four-year-old kid back then. It was so long ago, he didn't really remember. Piccolo's training had been brutal.

'I don't really remember how long it took me, it was so long ago.' Gohan answered.

'How old were you when you learned how to fly Gohan?' Videl asked.

'I was four years old back then.'

Videl seemed very surprised.

'Only four years old! Why did you learn it so young?'

Gohan hesitated how much he should tell her. The full story was very brutal and he'd rather not talk about it with both Goten and Videl there.

'It wasn't exactly my own choice.' Gohan said hesitantly.

Chi-Chi saved him by changing the subject.

'How is your sensing of ki going Videl? Gohan told me you wanted to learn that too.'

Videl thought for a second.

'I can sense my own ki without much trouble.' Videl said. 'But the ki of others is still a lot more difficult, I only noticed it just now when I felt the ki of Goten and Gohan behind them when they were flying.'

'Sensing other people is easier when they're consuming more ki and when they're close to you. When we're calm and relaxed we don't consume much so it's harder to detect.' Gohan said. 'That you already managed to sense us on your second day is amazing.'

'Thank you Gohan.' Videl said and she smiled at him.

* * *

After lunch Videl continued practising her flying skill with Gohan, who was also working hard on his homework at the same time. At three o'clock, Videl's endurance in the air was already much better, and she didn't have any trouble with her control anymore, she didn't even need to pay attention to her stability anymore.

'Hey Gohan, look at this, flying is really easy now!' Videl called out to Gohan. Gohan looked up and smiled. He flew up to her.

'Let's try something a bit harder now.' Gohan offered. 'Remember how you formed the ball of ki yesterday? Can you try that again while you are flying?'

Videl tried to form the ball while staying airborne. It was a lot more difficult in the air, having to focus on two things at once. _Okay Videl, just take it easy. Take your time._ She focused her ki out of her body like yesterday, and formed it into a ball.

'That's great Videl, now try to move it around while staying still yourself.'

Videl tried. She moved the ball away from her, but noticed that she was moving backwards as well.

'You're also pushing yourself back when you move the ball forwards.' Gohan said. 'Try to use the ki you're using for flying to compensate for that.'

Videl tried to fly a bit forwards while moving the ball forwards as well, experimenting a bit. But then she lost her balance and had to pay all her attention to her flying to recover. _What happened to the ball?_ Videl looked around and saw her ki ball moving away from her at high speed, it was heading towards Gohan's house! Videl saw Gohan flying after it really fast. He overtook the ball, formed a ball of ki himself, and threw it back at Videl's ball. It was a head-on collision between the two balls of ki, and Videl heard a loud bang, like a grenade had exploded. Soon after, Videl felt a gust of wind originating from the place where the ki balls had collided. Videl descended and landed. Gohan followed after her.

'What happened there Gohan?' Videl asked while breathing heavily from exhaustion. Keeping herself afloat during that moment had been tiring her out.

'You lost control of your ki, you used too much at once.' Gohan said. 'I think it was simply more than you were ready for.'

'What did you do back there?'

'Your ki ball went flying to our house. I had to stop it, so I fired my own ki at it from the front. When the two balls met, their energy was released immediately in that explosion.'

 _Wow, this ki is actually much more powerful than I thought, I'd better be careful with it._

'What would have happened if I had hit your house?' Videl asked worryingly.

'The energy would have been released upon impact, possibly damaging or destroying the house, depending on how much ki you stored in it.'

'I had no idea that my ki was this powerful.' Videl said quietly.

'I'm sorry Videl, I should have warned you.' Gohan said. 'I thought you had realised that seeing as it is powerful enough to keep you flying, carrying your entire weight, and after all your practice without too much trouble too it seems.'

Videl then realised something.

'So when you said that ki control originated from the martial arts, do you mean that martial artists used to use these balls of ki in their battles?'

'Among others, yes.' Gohan answered. 'Please be careful using these ki blasts when fighting criminals Videl, if you don't have full control of them and their power, you could severely hurt or possibly even kill innocent bystanders if you hit them.'

Videl sat down, it was all becoming a bit much for her.

'You seem to have so much control over it, you flew so fast after my ball and fired your own like it was nothing.' Videl said. 'I'm not sure anymore if I can actually beat you at the Tournament now. I guess that's why your mom didn't seem worried at all for you entering.'

'Well uhmm, I guess you're right about that Videl.' Gohan said awkwardly. 'But remember that I've been using my ki since I was four years old, I've had much more practice than you. You've been doing this for two days. There are still three more weeks until the Tournament, if you keep on practicing you'll be a lot better by then.'

'What's up with that actually?' Videl realised. 'Why did you learn this when you were only four?'

Gohan hesitated and was fumbling with grass in his hands.

'Well uhmm, there were some extreme circumstances back then that forced me, I don't really want to talk about it Videl.'

Videl had no idea what those circumstances could be, didn't Gohan say his dad died seven years ago? So Gohan's dad had to have been still alive when Gohan was four, why would it be necessary for Gohan to learn how to fly? Maybe Gohan's dad had been severely injured or something. But Videl didn't ask further, she knew Gohan wouldn't tell her, he didn't want to talk about it. She should change the subject.

'How strong do you think my ki balls are right now Gohan?'

'I'm not sure, let's try it out.' Gohan said, and he looked around. He spotted a sizeable boulder, about two-and-a-half metres in diameter. 'Look, try focusing as much ki as you can into a ball and throw it at this boulder, but stand back.'

Videl tried. She focused her ki, slowly brought it into her hands and formed a ball. _I can still add more ki._ She added as much ki as she thought she could still control. The ball was a lot brighter than the earlier ones she had formed, but not any bigger. She tried to guide it towards the boulder, concentrating hard on moving that ball as fast as she could. And it moved. Gohan stood back too. It started to pick up more and more speed as Videl kept on concentrating. The ball hit the boulder and exploded. The roar was deafeningly loud, and Videl was thrown back by the gust of wind.

When Videl got back up, she looked at the boulder. Except, there was no more boulder. Around the place where the boulder originally was there were a lot of smaller rocks that hadn't been there before. She had blown up the boulder, blasted it into pieces.

'Holy shit.' Videl said quietly. 'That's some powerful stuff. How did the martial arts world forget this? Did all of the fighters who knew this blow themselves up in horrible accidents or something?'

'I don't know.' Gohan replied. 'But you're right, it's very powerful. And as you keep on practicing, you will be able to produce blasts even more powerful.'

'You didn't secretly hide a bomb underneath that boulder did you?' Videl asked. Despite having seen it with her own eyes, it was still very difficult to believe that she actually blew up that boulder with her own power. Gohan sniggered at her remark.

'No, I really didn't, it's all your own power. I've been telling you, your progress is astounding, that you can already produce and control that much ki on your second day. You're a natural.'

Videl looked at her phone, it was already a quarter to four, it was time to go home.

'Thanks a lot for all of your help Gohan.' Videl said, smiling to him. 'It's getting late, I have to go home again.'

'I guess you won't need any more lessons from me Videl.' Gohan replied. 'I'm sure you can practice just fine without me from now on.'

'I think so too. But I'll see you tomorrow anyway at school.' Videl noted. 'Don't forget to talk to Mac tomorrow, he'll be counting on you.'

'I won't forget Videl, I'll talk to him.' Gohan promised. 'Don't you forget to arrange those Tournament tickets for my mother?'

'I'll take care of it. Well, I really have to be going now. Thanks a lot for all the help Gohan.'

Videl uncapsuled her airplane and took off, looking back at Gohan. _I guess Erasa was right, he's already a lot less awkward than a week ago._


	8. Introductions and Qualifications

**[Author's note: I'm fast-forwarding through the next three weeks until the Tournament, not much happens that actually advances the plot beyond Videl's advances in ki control, and I already spent three chapters on her discovery of ki. I'm opting to keep the details of her further advances a secret to the reader for now. Upon reading this chapter you may get the feeling that this is going in the same direction as the original Buu arc, and for the opening of the Tournament it kind of is, but once the Adult Competition starts you'll see the story will diverge from the original to a much larger degree than the subtle changes thus far, so enjoy.]**

* * *

Videl had finished up her ki lessons with Gohan, but she was not done learning yet. In the next three weeks Videl worked hard and made significant improvements on her own. She still hunted down criminals in the meantime. The major difference was that Gohan was helping her out in the crime-fighting duties occasionally as the Great Saiyaman, although both Gohan and she could probably easily do it alone. Mac preferred them working together, just to be safe.

After three weeks, it was finally time for the Tournament. Videl had already handed over the tickets to Gohan at school, and was now flying with her father to Papaya Island in their aircraft. Gohan's family didn't need any transportation, they apparently already had someone else they were flying along with.

After a flight of at least two-and-a-half hours Videl and her father finally landed outside the Tournament grounds on Papaya Island. Immediately as they exited their vehicle they were surrounded by the press.

'Mr. Satan, this year your daughter is also entering the adult competition correct?'

Mr. Satan stood on the top of the vehicle ladder and addressed the press.

'That's correct, my little Videl is also entering, and I think she'll go far in this Tournament as long as she doesn't have to face me in an early round!'

'Speaking of which, Videl, how do you estimate your chances at the Tournament, do you think you have any chance of defeating your father?'

Videl wasn't sure, maybe she could now that she had practiced her skills with ki so much. Before she had taken those lessons from Gohan she never believed to have a shot at her father. But she also wanted to keep that a secret until the fights actually started.

'I don't know yet, we'll have to see.' Videl answered. 'I have done a lot of serious training over the last couple of months and I'm a lot stronger now than I was when I won the Junior Division last time.'

Mr. Satan laughed at that.

'Hahaha, that's my girl.'

The press seemed to have a lot more questions and were crowding even tighter around their airplane. Videl was starting to get a bit annoyed by it.

'Could you tell us a bit more about your training Videl?'

 _I can see why Gohan wanted to keep his identity a secret, these people are rude._

'Dad, can I go and take a look around?' Videl whispered to her father. 'I don't want to answer all these questions about my training.'

'Uhmm, alright then.' Mr. Satan whispered back. 'Everyone, my daughter has to go and run some errands, please let her pass.'

Yes, she was finally out of there. _Now on to find Gohan, I wonder if he's already here._ The area was big, and there were people everywhere, mostly spectators, so Videl started to wonder if she'd be able to find Gohan. Why didn't she have his phone number? Fortunately it didn't take her too long, Gohan's outfit stood out like crazy, with his red cape, yellow buttons, green shirt, and his black trousers. He didn't wear his helmet, but instead wore a bandana and some sunglasses. Gohan was together with Goten, his mother, and a man Videl did not know. The unknown man had hair similar to Goten, was of average height just like Gohan, and wore a bright orange gi with a symbol on the front that Videl could not make out from this far away. On his back he wore a different symbol that Videl did not recognise. _Maybe they came here with this man?_ Videl quickly approached them and poked Gohan.

'Hey Great Saiyaman, nice seeing you here!'

'Hey Videl, so you made it here too.' Gohan said.

'Hello Miss Videl.' Goten said, and he bowed again. 'Are you going to watch me fight in the Junior Division?'

'Sure Goten, I will watch you fight, I'm curious to see you.' Videl replied friendly. 'I'm sure you'll do great.'

'Hello Videl.' Chi-Chi said. 'Thanks again for fixing the tickets for us.'

'It's really no problem Chi-Chi, I'm very grateful to Gohan for the lessons, it was the least I could do.'

'Hi there.' The unknown man said. 'So you are the Videl I've been hearing about, who is also going to fight here?'

'That's right, that's me.' Videl answered. 'But I don't know who you are.'

'I'm Goku.' The man said. 'I'm Gohan's dad.'

 _Wait, what the hell?_

Videl addressed Gohan.

'I thought your father was… dead?'

'That's right, I'm dead.' Goku said cheerfully, as if talking about going to the beach. 'I've been dead for almost seven years now. That's why I've got that halo above my head.'

Videl looked, and there was indeed a weird golden halo floating above Goku's head. It looked surreal, it didn't really look solid but not like a gas or a liquid either. It had something a bit incorporeal, it was like nothing Videl had ever seen.

 _That doesn't make any sense._

Luckily, Gohan stepped in and tried to explain it.

'My father was allowed to come back from the afterlife for one day because he saved the world when he was still alive.' Gohan said. 'He chose today to see me and Goten fight, he will be fighting himself too.'

'That's right, I can't wait to fight again and see everyone.' Goku said excitedly. 'It's been so long since I fought here.'

Videl was dumbfounded, she couldn't make any sense of this. She had a million questions but couldn't really formulate most of them, and asked the first thing that came to her mind as a coherent sentence.

'What's that halo made of?' Videl asked.

'I dunno, I never asked them.' Goku said. 'I dunno why we even get these when we die.'

'Do you sometimes get it stuck behind doors or something?'

'Nah, not really, but doors are much bigger in the afterlife, some of the dead guys are way bigger than I so they need big doors.'

'I think we should try to find the others.' Gohan said to him.

'Oh yeah of course, I can't wait to see how much stronger they got.' Goku replied. 'Bye Videl, I'll see you later at the Tournament.'

And they left. Videl was left speechless. Was it all just a weird prank they were playing on her? Was Gohan's dad really dead? Dead people couldn't just walk around and talk could they? If it were anyone else than Gohan she wouldn't have believed it even for a second, but his story about ki turned out to be true too. And if Gohan's dad really was back from the afterlife for just one day, his family would probably want to spend it all together, it wasn't really her place to interfere. So what could Videl do in the meantime until the qualifications started? Her dad was probably still showing off in front of the press, who else would be here that she knew? _Of course!_ _Erasa!_ Erasa had promised to be here to watch her fight. She tried calling Erasa, as searching here would be a nightmare.

'Hey Videl, how's it going?' Erasa said cheerfully.

'Where are you at? Let's hang out a bit until the qualifications begin.'

'I'm at that cute pancake restaurant near the airport, it's great.'

'Alright, I'll be right there.'

Videl quickly went to the pancake restaurant and met up with Erasa.

'Hey Videl, I thought you'd be hanging out with your dad.' Erasa said.

'Oh please. He's probably still showing off in front of the press.' Videl said condescendingly, and she ordered her drink.

'What's wrong Videl, you look like you just saw a ghost?' Erasa noted. _Is she psychic or something? How does she keep on reading my mind?_

'I don't really know how to explain it.' Videl said, trying to drop the subject, but Erasa wouldn't let it go that quickly.

'Come on Videl, just try it, you know you can tell me anything.'

'Alright then. Remember I told you about Gohan's dad, and how he used to be a fighter?'

'You mean the one who chased off the Red Ribbon Army?' Erasa asked excitedly. 'He's here?'

'Yeah, I met him, but he said he's been dead for seven years.' Videl said. 'He even had this really weird golden halo thing over his head.'

'If he's dead, how can he still walk around and talk with people?' Erasa said sceptically.

'I don't know Erasa!' Videl exclaimed. 'He said something about being allowed to come back for a single day because he saved the world when he was alive or something. It was really weird.'

'That just sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me Videl.' Erasa said. 'Maybe he really is a fighter, but it was probably just some random guy trying to pull a prank on you.'

'But he was with Gohan, and his mom and brother too.' Videl said.

Erasa was surprised at that.

'Really?! Gohan's here?! I didn't expect him to come, he didn't seem that interested when I said he should come too. Why didn't you invite him to come over with us here? Maybe he could explain it.'

'He went with his family.' Videl answered. 'I guess if this really is the only day that Gohan's dad is back Gohan will want to spend it with him instead of with us.'

'That's so unlike you Videl.' Erasa noted. 'Normally you'd be all over that trying to find out more about Gohan's dad.'

Videl tried to come up with an answer.

'I just think that it might be difficult for Gohan to talk about it. He never talks about his dad, I think maybe some things happened in the past.' Videl said. 'I don't even know how he died.'

'It's surprising that you're being so considerate Videl.' Erasa remarked. 'Of course Gohan has some issues, but such considerations never stopped you before. Have you grown a crush on Gohan or something?' Erasa ended teasingly.

'No I haven't!' Videl bounced back. 'You're the one who's been super-nice to him over the past four weeks.'

'Well, Gohan's a really nice guy, he's got great manners, and he's kind of cute.' Erasa remarked. 'Plus he already seems to get a little less awkward.'

'So you admit it!'

'No, I just think he's a friendly guy, but I don't have feelings for him or anything.' Erasa said. 'But I think it's really good that you've gotten to know Gohan a bit. Before you'd have just dismissed him as a dork, now you're actually caring for him.'

Erasa was always ridiculously sharp in observing people, and she knew Videl better than anyone else.

'I guess. But I don't understand why Gohan would say that his dead father was walking around, he'd be the last guy to try and prank me.' Videl said, trying to change the subject away from her own feelings.

'I don't know Videl.' Erasa said. 'What if it's not a prank and Gohan's dad is actually dead but here for a single day?'

'That's what I've been thinking about, but dead guys walking around is just so weird, and Gohan trying to prank people like that is like, just as weird.'

An announcement was heard through the speakers everywhere.

'Preliminaries for the World Martial Arts Tournament start in ten minutes. All adult participants, please move to the stadium immediately.'

'I guess you have to go.' Erasa said. 'Good luck, you'll do great.'

'Thanks Erasa, I'll see you later.'

Videl rushed to the stadium. There were eight machines scattered across the ring, while the press was seated outside the ring. A spokesman of the Tournament talked to the participants.

'There are eight punching machines in this ring. You will all divide yourselves among these eight machines and punch as hard as you can, the sixteen fighters with the highest scores are qualified for the Tournament. Before we start off, current champion Mr. Satan will demonstrate the procedure and set a benchmark score.'

Mr. Satan posed in front of the machine that was best visible for the press and gave the machine a hard punch. The machine displayed the score: 137.

'137, Mr. Satan has scored 137 points! Now that you've all seen how it works, please divide yourself equally over the machines.'

Videl looked around, trying to find Gohan and his dad. She quickly found them in a group together with several more people Videl did not know. There were two very small men, one was even smaller than she was, a very tall man with a turban whose skin looked very green, Videl estimated him well over two metres tall, another fairly tall man that was very muscular that was completely bald, he was about as tall as her dad, and a blonde woman of average height, who didn't look particularly athletic. These were probably the people that Gohan's dad knew when he was still alive. Apart from Goku, none of them had a weird halo over their heads. Videl was curious to their performance, she went in line for the same machine as Gohan's group was.

The line advanced quickly, with only about 25 people per machine in total. Most people were getting scores around 100. Then it was the turn of the man even smaller than Videl. Videl was watching closely, curious how the power of Goku's friends was compared to her father's. He hit 186. _No way, that's way higher than my dad!_ The officials were looking startled to the machine, as if it was broken, and checked the calibration. After they were sure it was all okay, they asked the man to try again. He hit 179. The officials apparently concluded that everything was in order and wrote his score down. Next up were the others from Gohan's group, and they all hit around that range, some 190, others scored 170, some a bit in between. _I may have a lot tougher competition than I thought._ Gohan was next. Videl tried to calm herself down and focused. She saw Gohan hit a score of 192, and she thought she felt the faintest trace of ki from Gohan as he punched. Maybe they were using their ki to punch harder. A couple of more people that weren't from Gohan's group were next, and they all hit around 100 again. Videl was last in line.

'Ah, Miss Videl. You know the drill, go right ahead.' The official said.

Videl focused, but did not use her ki, and punched as hard as she could. The score said 144. It was higher than her dad's!

'Oh, 144, that's very good Miss Videl.' The official said and he wrote her score down.

'I think I can punch it harder, can I try again?' Videl offered. She wanted to see what would happen if she tried using her ki to amplify her punch.

'No, no, only one try per person. You'll have to stick to this score, but if you want you can try again off-the-record, you're the last in line anyway and it looks like everyone else is pretty much done too.'

That would still satisfy her curiosity, and 144 was probably enough to qualify anyway. Videl focused a portion of her ki into her arm, and then accelerated her ki backwards fast at the same moment she punched. The ki pushed her arm forward faster than before, and she hit the machine. It displayed 239. It looked like the current Champion would have a lot of trouble defending his title.


	9. The Junior Division

The Tournament officials were staring blankly at the score on the machine, it was actually kind of comical.

'239, her score is over a hundred points higher than that of her father.' One official said.

'Insane, how can someone punch so hard with such a small body?'

Then some officials from the other machines ran to them.

'Hey, you're done here right?' They said. 'Take these machines away quickly, we've got to get everything ready for the Junior Division in the ring.'

One of them addressed Videl.

'Could you leave the ring, we want to start the Junior Division soon and we're running on a tight schedule to do this entire Tournament in one day.'

Videl quickly left. Looking back, Videl saw them take the machine away, still talking about her score. She had scored higher than anyone else, even harder than Gohan and his dad's friends. Videl knew that she had held back. If she had gone all-out she would have destroyed that machine the same way she had destroyed that boulder near Gohan's house. It would make sense that Gohan, who had already trained with ki since he was only four years old, was also holding back. Things were surely starting to become interesting. Videl called Erasa.

'Hey Erasa.'

'Hey Videl, how did the qualification go?'

'It went great! I'm pretty sure I qualified.'

'I thought so, I'd have been really surprised if you hadn't. But the Tournament isn't until this afternoon right?' Erasa noted. 'First is the Junior Division, are you going to watch it?'

'Yes I am. I didn't have the time to tell you before, but Gohan's little brother is fighting in the Junior Division and I promised him to watch him fight.'

'Wow, that's cool.' Erasa said excitedly. 'You know what, I'm kinda curious to Gohan's family and outside the stadium it's a total bore anyway, let's watch together.'

'That sounds great.'

Videl quickly met up with Erasa and they found themselves a seat.

'Isn't Gohan's little brother only like six years old?' Erasa asked. 'I recall him saying that one time at school.'

'That sounds about right, but remember that story about his father?' Videl said. 'If Gohan's brother has inherited that talent he might actually get quite far in the Junior Division.'

The stadium quickly filled up with people, but fortunately Erasa and Videl were there early and managed to get great spots. The referee, who also doubled as announcer for the audience, appeared with a microphone. He looked exactly the same as Videl remembered him from the last Tournament, black shades, extreme amounts of hair gel, and vibrant as ever.

'Hello and welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Junior Division of the World Martial Arts Tournament, for all fighters up until the age of 15.' He screamed. 'For those of you that don't know, the rules are simple. If you fall out of the ring, get knocked down without standing back up for 10 seconds, or surrender, you lose the fight! The winners advance to the next round, all the way until only a single fighter remains as Junior Division Champion.'

The announcer welcomed the first two fighters into the ring, one twelve-year-old and one thirteen-year-old. Videl watched them fight, but she wasn't overly impressed. She had been a lot stronger four years ago when she became Champion. After two fights were concluded, the announcer invited Goten and his opponent in.

'And let's continue with the third fight in the first round. Let's welcome Son Goten, age six, and his opponent Idasa, age fourteen!' The announcer screamed excitedly. 'You may be thinking that six-year-old Son Goten has no business here, but after a little investigation by me I can reveal that Son Goten is none other than the son of previous World Martial Arts Champion Son Goku, who displayed tremendous fighting talent during all of his previous appearances here!'

Goten and Idasa entered the ring, Idasa was a lot larger than Goten, Goten seemed to be somewhat scared by all the attention from the crowd, but also eager to fight.

'That's Gohan's little brother right?' Erasa said excitedly. 'I can see the resemblance.'

'That's right Erasa, that's him.' Videl said determined. She wasn't going to miss a second of this.

Goten bowed to Idasa, but Idasa didn't bow back.

'And BEGIN!' The announcer called out.

Idasa went for a quick kick, aiming for the much smaller Goten's shoulder, but Goten caught his kick with his hand, seemingly with ease.

'Oh, and Idasa's kick was caught by Son Goten!'

Goten grabbed Idasa's leg with both hands and threw Idasa out of the ring.

'Idasa has landed outside of the ring after that spectacular throw by Son Goten! The winner is Son Goten!'

'That was over quickly.' Erasa remarked. 'Was that luck or was it really good?'

'That was no luck Erasa.' Videl answered while Goten bowed to the audience. 'The amount of force you need to throw someone much larger than you such a distance is immense, even if you use the momentum of their attack. Goten is definitely strong, especially for his age.'

'So, do you think he could win the Tournament?'

'I don't know. He's still very young, maybe he lacks the experience and makes a mistake somewhere, and that Idasa kid left himself wide-open when he went in for that kick. We'll have to see how Goten fights when he comes up against someone who doesn't underestimate him and knows what he's doing.'

The next couple of battles were of much lower level than Goten's was, it wasn't until the seventh battle that an interesting fighter showed up again.

'Please welcome, for the seventh battle in the first round, Trunks, age eight, and Ekosa, age fifteen.'

Videl thought she had heard the name Trunks before, but she couldn't recall where. He was a lot smaller than Ekosa, and didn't look scared at all. He looked quite arrogant.

'And BEGIN!'

Trunks went in quickly for a low kicking attack on Ekosa. Ekosa tried to jump to dodge but Trunks was just too fast. Ekosa tripped and barely managed to keep his footing. Trunks was not done yet and attacked with a left-handed punch while Ekosa was off-balance, and nailing it straight to his face. It was a very fast punch, and well executed, it would hurt despite their size difference. Ekosa fell backwards and collapsed.

'It looks like Ekosa is down!' The announcer exclaimed. 'One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six!'

Ekosa was moving a bit, but seemed unable to stand up. 'Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Ekosa has lost by knockout! The winner is eight-year-old Trunks after only two attacks! Incredible!'

This was the first battle so far to be decided by knockout, everything else had been decided by ring-out or surrender. The referee had to call in a stretcher to carry Ekosa out of the ring, he still seemed unable to stand up.

'Wow, that kid was good.' Erasa said. 'Do you think he's stronger than Gohan's brother?'

Videl was surprised too, Trunks was really good. He moved so fast and yet had great control over his attacks. Winning by knockout after only two attacks was a rarity in the Tournament, Trunks's punch had to have been immensely strong to knock out someone who hadn't taken previous damage in the fight.

'I don't know, he sure is strong.' Videl said. 'I haven't seen enough of either of them yet to call that, they both won their matches so quickly.'

After a couple of more matches that weren't nearly as interesting, it was time for Goten's second appearance. Videl watched closely, hoping to see a bit more of Goten's abilities, but Goten disposed of his second opponent as easily as his first. Goten's third opponent was a bit stronger, but Goten still seemingly defeated him with ease. Meanwhile, Trunks also raced through his battles without any difficulty. When it was about 11 o'clock Goten and Trunks were the only ones left.

'That's it folks, it is time for the final match in this Junior Division of the World Martial Arts Tournament, and it is six-year-old Son Goten fighting against eight-year-old Trunks!' The announcer screamed as loudly as ever.

Goten and Trunks entered the ring and bowed to each other.

'Before we begin, let me tell you that these two young fighters already know each other quite well.' The announcer said. 'They usually fight in the woods together as friends, so we can assume they know each other's fighting styles. This is bound to become a very interesting match, as both of these fighters have displayed excellent talent! Now without further ado, BEGIN!'

Trunks took a defensive position, and Goten quickly ran to him for a frontal attack. Goten then faked out right before his attack, he jumped and went for a high kick instead. Trunks, who had been anticipating a direct attack and countered that, was forced to pull back to dodge Goten's kick.

'That was a good move by Goten.' Videl said.

Goten unleashed a flurry of fast attacks, giving Trunks little time to attack, and Trunks was forced backwards, although Trunks managed to avoid direct hits by dodging and blocking Goten's attacks.

'Wow!' Erasa exclaimed. 'They're fast!'

'Their control and balance are amazing at that speed.' Videl added.

Trunks was getting close to the edge of the ring, Goten would force him out if he didn't think of something. Trunks saw an opening in Goten's assault and attacked with a right-hand kick, but Goten had anticipated Trunks's attack and caught his leg. Goten attempted a toss, and managed to throw Trunks out. _Goten left that opening on purpose!_

'He's out!' Erasa screamed. But she was wrong. Trunks flew upwards while in mid-air, avoiding a ring-out, while Goten looked up to him.

'Miraculous!' The announcer shouted, his excitement completely unbound. 'Trunks managed to avoid losing by ring-out with his flying technique after that quick throw by Son Goten!'

Goten wasn't having any of that, he took to the sky too, chasing after Trunks. Trunks managed to block and dodge several attacks by Goten while in mid-air. The speed and balance of them both was incredible.

'What the…?' Erasa stumbled. 'How are they not falling down?'

Videl already knew Goten could fly, but she didn't expect someone else in the Junior League to fly as well. She had never seen a fight before where flying was used on both sides. She wouldn't miss even a second of this. Erasa was then bumping her.

'Earth to Videl, Earth to Videl, are you there?' Erasa was shaking her.

'Sorry, what did you say?' Videl stumbled.

'How are those kids flying?' Erasa demanded.

'It's a technique.' Videl started. 'It's not that easy to explain, I'll tell you after the fight.'

Trunks managed to get in a direct hit on Goten, who fell down fast, but managed to manoeuvre in mid-air to land on his feet. The landing still made a loud noise that Erasa and Videl could clearly hear even over all the noise from the audience.

'Trunks may have thought that attack was sufficient to weaken Son Goten, but Son Goten managed to minimise the damage by landing on his feet.' The referee announced as loudly as ever. 'Can you believe the talent of these two fighters?! I think we might need to order high-speed cameras for the next time they're here to keep up with this!'

Trunks waited in the air for Goten's next move, it seemed like Trunks was using a defensive strategy. Goten tried something different. He held both of his hands open towards Trunks, then pulled them back behind him, as if holding an invisible ball. Videl had a feeling she knew what Goten was up to. Goten formed a blue ball of ki in his hands that started glowing, then pointed his hands back to Trunks. The ki was released from Goten's hands, and Videl saw it wasn't just a ball; Goten was continuously releasing more and more ki from his hands, which formed a beam that was targeting Trunks. Trunks descended quickly to dodge Goten's attack, and the beam of ki flew out of the stadium.

'Absolutely miraculous!' The referee screamed hysterically. 'Son Goten just used the Kamehameha wave, a technique originally invented by Martial Arts Master Kame-Sen'nin! Son Goten is now the new youngest fighter in history to use this technique here at the World Martial Arts Tournament! We haven't seen this technique since his father Son Goku used the Kamehameha wave against Ma-Junior all those years ago! Everyone, a big round of applause please for this amazingly talented fighter, the six-year-old Son Goten!'

'The Kamewhat wave?' Erasa stumbled. 'Videl?! What was that?!'

But before Videl could reply, Trunks counterattacked with his own ki attack, repeatedly launching smaller ki blasts from the sky at Goten. Goten had to move quickly to dodge all of Trunks's attacks. Videl and Erasa felt a gust of wind coming from the exploding ki blasts, but Goten didn't seem too fazed by it. The sound was deafening, and everyone in the audience covered their ears with their hands. Goten then quickly flew directly upwards, Videl saw a streak of ki behind him from the amount of power he used to fly. Trunks aimed his blasts at Goten, following him, and some were headed towards the audience!

'No, he's aiming for the audience!' Videl exclaimed. She then saw Gohan pop up in front of the audience behind Goten, and he launched a barrage of ki blasts of his own, similar to what he had done at his house to stop Videl's attack, stopping all of Trunks's attacks. Gohan then quickly flew back to the audience.

'Time-out!' The referee declared loudly. 'Time-out!' Trunks and Goten both stopped fighting and looked at the referee. Now that Videl looked back down at him, she noticed that the ring was completely unharmed. _What is that ring made of?_ They must have severely reinforced the ring since the 23rd Tournament. 'Trunks receives a warning for dangerous fighting. Energy attacks are not allowed to be used when aiming for the audience. Fortunately the Great Saiyaman managed to prevent any injuries this time, but any fighter trying that again WILL be disqualified! It would be a great shame to end a fight like this on a disqualification, so please just don't do that anymore okay?!'

'Energy attacks?' Erasa asked. 'What just happened Videl?'

'Trunks and Goten both used energy attacks, but when Goten moved in front of the audience Trunks did not stop attacking, so he almost hit the audience.' Videl answered. 'Trunks got a warning for dangerous fighting.'

'But what are energy attacks?'

'I'll explain after the fight, it looks like they're starting up again.'

The referee had just given the signal to resume the fight again, and Trunks immediately responded. He managed to fly into a blind spot above Goten while Goten was still watching the referee. Trunks then launched a powerful energy beam from above. Goten only barely managed to respond by launching his own energy beam, he had no time to dodge. The beams collided in mid-air in between Trunks and Goten, and Videl felt a strong wind originating from the point of collision. This attack was apparently fine because the ring was behind Goten while the sky was behind Trunks.

'Incredible! Can you feel the power of these two fighters?!' The announcer screamed. 'Their power seems to be even, no wait…'

Videl then noticed it too. The point of collision was slowly moving towards Goten. Videl sensed and saw that the ki Goten put into his attack was slightly less than the ki Trunks used. Goten slowly descended, trying to create more distance, and landed on the ring while keeping his energy beam intact. But Trunks simply used more ki than his opponent, and Goten didn't have much space left.

'It looks like Goten is just about out of space now!'

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light originating from Goten, and Videl felt an incredible amount of ki, much more than she ever felt from herself or from Gohan or from anyone else, from Goten and his attack. Goten's attack pushed back Trunks's attack fast, and Trunks barely managed to fly out of the way and dodge, the energy beam disappeared into the sky. Videl looked back at Goten, what had happened? Goten seemed different somehow. His hair had changed, it stood almost straight up, and had a golden glow. But before Videl could take a better look from this distance, Goten's hair changed back to its original black colour.

'Amazing!' The referee just couldn't shut up. 'In a sudden change of events, Son Goten managed to overcome the power of his opponent and avoided taking that energy attack! But if Son Goten thought his counter was sufficient to bring down Trunks he was mistaken, Trunks managed to dodge that attack!'

'Wait a minute…' Erasa started. 'Did Goten just, what did he do with his hair?'

Videl could only stare in awe. She just couldn't get her thoughts straight. How did a six-year-old kid have this much ki control? How strong was Goten really? What just happened? Trunks descended quickly and landed opposite to Goten. He seemed to be really angry with Goten and was shouting to him, but Videl couldn't hear a thing over all the noise from the audience. Goten seemed flustered and embarrassed by the situation. The two little boys then continued fighting in close combat with a flurry of kicks and punches. Videl could barely keep up, when suddenly Trunks appeared to vanish.

'Trunks just demonstrated his amazing skill by vanishing right before our eyes! I guess we already need those high-speed cameras for this fight!'

Videl concentrated and noticed that she could still sense Trunks's ki. He was moving very fast, so it was hard to see him, but the trail of ki he left behind made it easier to follow him for her.

'What the?' Erasa asked bewildered. 'Where did he go?'

Goten also seemed confused and was looking around nervously, trying to find Trunks, and Trunks managed to attack Goten from behind. It was a powerful blow, and Goten flew out of the ring, unable to take the hit that he did not see coming. Goten tried to slow himself down, Videl sensed Goten's ki in his attempt to slow down, but he simply had too much speed, and Goten crashed into the first boarding piece that was placed around the ring. Goten managed to get up, seemingly unscathed.

'Son Goten was out of the ring!' The referee declared. 'The winner, and our new Junior Division World Martial Arts Champion, is Trunks!'

Videl looked back at Trunks, there was the faintest glow present in his hair, but otherwise it seemed pretty normal, and he stood proudly in the centre of the ring.

'Aww, look at Gohan's poor little brother!' Erasa said. Goten slowly walked back into the ring, looking down at the ground. 'He looks really sad that he lost.'

The referee noticed it too, and addressed the audience.

'And a big round of applause for these two young and extremely talented fighters!' He proclaimed. 'Six-year-old Son Goten and eight-year-old Trunks, both have fought miraculously well. In all my years of working at the World Martial Arts Tournament I can honestly say I have never before seen anyone already be so talented and skilled at such a young age, absolutely incredible! I am sure we will see much more of these two in the future!'

Trunks walked to Goten, took his hand, and held it up. The audience cheered and applauded gracefully.

'Aww, that's so sweet of Trunks.' Erasa said. 'There's a lot of friendship between those two.'

'Hey Erasa.' Videl started. Erasa looked. 'Let's grab some lunch before the Adult Division starts.'

* * *

 **[Author's note: I know the manga and anime depict Goten at age seven here, but that doesn't fit the timeline properly, as this Tournament takes place slightly less than 7 years after the Cell Games when Goten wasn't born yet, six fits the timeline better.]**


	10. Outside Lunch

**[Author's note: Ten chapters already, and the story is still only just beginning. I want to thank all the people who are following this story, and all the people who left positive reviews. It seems like people appreciate the story, so I'll keep it going. If you've got feedback, don't hesitate to let me know. Enjoy this tenth chapter.]**

* * *

'Good idea, let's go!' Erasa replied.

They managed to quickly leave the stadium and entered the first restaurant they found, directly outside of the stadium. It was a nice restaurant, and as they entered they were greeted with a very warm smell of freshly-baked bread.

'Isn't this place terribly expensive though?' Erasa wondered while glancing over the menu. 'They're charging big time because they're right next to the stadium.'

'Don't worry about it, it's on me.' Videl said. Videl was glad Erasa was here, she flew all the way here just to cheer her on, the least she could do was pay her lunch.

Erasa and Videl found themselves a cosy table close to the entrance and ordered their food.

'Wow, Videl, you're shaking a bit.' Erasa noted.

'I'm a bit nervous I guess.'

'Well, you should be.' Erasa said. 'I am always nervous whenever we have a show with the band.'

'It's not the big audience or something.' Videl explained. 'It's just, I'm kind of scared I won't be any good, what if they're all way stronger than me?'

'Listen up Videl, nobody is going to hold it against you if you don't win the title today. I mean, your dad is competing, and Gohan's dad is also competing, so there are two people competing that were already champions before. It would be crazy if you weren't nervous at all.' Erasa concluded. 'Just do your best, you'll do fine.'

Videl wasn't really convinced, which Erasa quickly noticed.

'Hey, let's talk about something else. Did you see what Gohan's little brother did during his fight? When he did that weird energy attack thing from his hands his hair turned gold and glowing by the end!'

'I saw something like that yeah!' Videl exclaimed. 'But I couldn't see it very well, his hair went back to black so fast.'

'Hey Videl, I was just thinking, didn't you say that the Goldfighter also had golden glowing hair?'

 _Wow, I hadn't thought of that yet! But that doesn't match up._

'Oh my god you're right! But Goten can't be the Goldfighter, he's too small and too young.'

'Well, what if whatever Goten did is something that Gohan can do too?' Erasa offered eagerly. 'Think about it, what if Gohan is the Goldfighter?'

Videl considered this. Gohan was the right age, the Goldfighter did have the badge from their school, and he was really strong, so it was definitely possible. But being both the Great Saiyaman and the Goldfighter simultaneously?

'It's definitely a possibility, but I'm not sure it matches his personality.'

Erasa was thinking.

'Didn't you say that Gohan's dad died seven years ago?'

'Umm, yes.' Videl replied, unsure where Erasa was going with this.

'Hey Videl, hey Erasa, nice seeing you here!'

Gohan had just entered, thankfully in his regular clothes, not in his ridiculous Great Saiyaman outfit. _Speak of the devil, how did he change so fast?_ He was followed by his mom and his dad, who still had that creepy halo above his head.

'Hey Videl, nice seeing you again.' Chi-Chi said. 'Why don't you come join us for lunch?'

'Ehmm.' Erasa said.

'Thank you for the offer, but I'm already here with my friend.'

'Oh, that's okay, she can join us too.' Chi-Chi said, and she turned to Erasa. 'I'm Chi-Chi by the way, I'm Gohan's mother. I'm assuming you already know Gohan?'

'Nice to meet you, I'm Erasa, I'm a friend from Gohan's school.' Erasa replied, and she shook Chi-Chi's hand and bowed. 'We'd love to sit with you. I'll be right there, I just have to tell the waiters that we're changing our table.'

'We'll discuss it later I guess.' Erasa whispered to Videl, and with that she quickly went looking for a waiter. Videl looked to Gohan's table and noticed that they had picked a very large table for only the five of them. Maybe the friends from Gohan's dad would also come later? Goten would probably also show up later, Videl noticed he wasn't here yet. Videl joined Gohan and his parents at their table.

'How have you been doing Videl?' Chi-Chi asked.

'I'm alright, how about you?' Videl asked.

'A bit sad Goten didn't manage to win this morning, he was so close.'

'Aww, that's okay Chi-Chi, Goten fought really well, and it looked to me like he had a lot of fun.' Goku said. 'I'm getting pretty excited to get out there and fight myself too.'

A waiter showed up to take their order. After Chi-Chi and Gohan ordered their food, Videl told him that she had already ordered and had moved table, so he turned his attention to Goku.

'Can I have ten of the big meals please?' Goku asked. The waiter had to blink a few times to process that.

'Excuse me?'

'The big meal? It's right here.' Goku pointed on the chart to the largest meal available. 'I want ten of those please.'

'Okay, if you insist, very well.' The waiter replied. He wrote down Goku's order, bowed, and left.

Chi-Chi noticed Videl staring blankly.

'Oh, Goku's just got a big appetite, he's had that since I first met him.' Chi-Chi said.

Videl noticed Goku's halo again, just as Erasa joined them again.

'Do you still have to eat when you're dead?' Videl asked.

'I dunno, I guess I can't really die from hunger if I'm already dead, but I don't wanna run outta energy today.' Goku replied.

Erasa introduced herself to Goku, and Goku introduced himself too.

'So you're actually dead then?' Erasa asked. 'I've never seen anyone else walk around dead before.'

'Yep, how long has it been now?' Goku asked Gohan cheerfully, completely oblivious to the sensitivity of the subject matter of death.

'Almost seven years father.' Gohan replied quietly.

'You look quite good for someone who has been dead for seven years.' Erasa noted, trying to go for a compliment.

'I got to keep my body and use it in the afterlife, so it didn't go bad.' Goku explained. 'Maybe that's why I still want food.'

'You were in the afterlife?' Erasa asked. 'What was it like there?'

'Oh, it's great there.' Goku said. 'There are all these cool people from all over the universe, some from very long ago, and they all look so different and have these unique fighting skills, I've learned a lot from them. Also, you can't really die again, so you don't have to worry too much when fighting each other, it's really fun.'

It was clear Erasa had no idea how to respond to that. Gohan also seemed uncomfortable with the subject. Goku seemed very simple-minded, only really thinking about fighting, while neither Gohan nor Erasa liked fighting much. It was getting kind of awkward.

'Where is Goten actually?' Chi-Chi asked. 'I thought he would find us here after his match, maybe he can't find us? Goku, can you go look for him?'

'But Chi-Chi, what if my food's ready while I'm away? It will get cold!'

'You ordered ten big meals Goku.' Chi-Chi insisted. 'I'm sure it will take them a while to make that much food.'

'Uhmm, okay then Chi-Chi.' Goku said shyly, and he quickly left to find Goten.

'Did he really order ten big meals?' Erasa whispered to Videl.

'My father has a very big appetite.' Gohan said apologetically, obviously having heard Erasa.

'How is it that your dad can walk around, eat, and talk with us while he's dead?' Erasa asked Gohan. 'You guys aren't just pulling some weird prank on us are you?'

'Well, uhmm, I'm not sure how to explain it.' Gohan hesitated.

'Just try to explain it Gohan.' Erasa insisted.

'When my father died, they allowed him to keep his body in the afterlife.' Gohan started. 'And they allowed him to come back to this world for one day. He chose the day of the Tournament because he loves fighting.'

'Who are "they"?' Erasa asked. 'And do they allow everyone to keep their bodies?'

'The people in charge of the afterlife I think.' Gohan replied. 'If I'm not mistaken they're called the Kais. I don't know the details, but my father was allowed to keep his body because he saved the world when he was still alive.'

'You mean when he defeated the Red Ribbon Army?' Videl asked.

'Among others, yes.' Chi-Chi said. 'Goku also saved the world later from King Piccolo.'

'King Piccolo?' Erasa enquired. 'I remember that name, wasn't he the one who tried to take over the world a few decades ago?'

'That's right.' Chi-Chi said. 'I don't think any of you were born back then, I was only fifteen at the time, but King Piccolo had attacked the King's Palace in Central City and taken over, he wanted to rule the world in a very violent manner, but Goku managed to defeat King Piccolo in a fight not soon after he took over.'

'You said among others, were there also other instances where he saved the world?' Videl asked curiously. Chi-Chi seemed much more at ease talking about these things than Gohan was, Videl wasn't about to let this opportunity slip.

'Well, seven years ago Goku fought this monster Cell together with Gohan, they managed to destroy Cell but at the cost of Goku's life.' Chi-Chi said proudly.

Videl looked at Gohan, who was looking down at the floor while sitting a bit curved, his head was very red. At that time, the waiters came to bring Erasa and Videl their food. Erasa thanked them.

'But my dad destroyed Cell, everyone knows that.' Videl objected.

Chi-Chi looked at Videl curiously, as if judging her, and started talking after a few moments.

'Well Videl, I think it is time for you to learn the truth about those events back then.' Chi-Chi said. 'Your father was also there at the Cell Games, but he did not defeat Cell. He merely claimed he did, but Gohan was really the one to destroy Cell. Back then, I chose not to come out into the public with it, Gohan had just witnessed his father die, the last thing he needed was all that attention from reporters and press at a time like that. Gohan was only ten years old at the time.'

Videl was getting angry. This woman was calling her father a liar. Everybody knew that her dad had defeated Cell!

'Are you calling my father a liar?!' Videl replied loudly. 'Gohan, you know my dad defeated Cell! Tell me!'

Gohan was more uncomfortable than ever being forced into this situation, but Videl didn't care. If Gohan's family was trying to steal away her father's credit for defeating Cell she would show them! Gohan did not reply.

'Videl, please calm down.' Erasa said, pulling her shirt. 'Let's go outside for a bit.'

Videl didn't listen. 'Gohan, answer me!'

Gohan didn't dare to look at her, he kept on looking at the floor while fudging with his hands.

'Videl please, let's go and calm down, this isn't working.' Erasa begged, she started to gently pull her out of her seat. Eventually, Videl allowed Erasa to guide her out. Erasa apologised silently to Gohan and his mother while they were leaving, leaving their food behind.

Once outside, Erasa looked around for a quiet spot and went into the stadium with Videl, while Videl was still angry.

'I just can't believe Gohan's mom, the nerve to talk to me like that!'

'You're right, she could've handled that situation a lot better.' Erasa replied. 'I guess Gohan's social awkwardness doesn't come just from his father.'

'Don't tell me you actually believe her!' Videl snapped at Erasa. Erasa was her best friend, she wouldn't choose their side would she?

'Does it matter what I think?' Erasa objected stubbornly.

'Of course it matters, you're my best friend!'

'Sounds to me like you're more interested in finding support than finding the truth, that's not like you Videl.' Erasa said coldly. 'I mean, you know darn well I wasn't there at the Cell Games.'

Videl wanted to respond angrily, but she couldn't find a good retaliation, Erasa's words were true, Erasa saying her dad beat Cell wouldn't prove anything, just like all the media saying it didn't prove anything anymore. After a minute or so, Videl spoke again.

'I'm sorry about that Erasa, it's not your fault.' Videl said apologetically.

'Aww, it's alright Videl, I would be pretty pissed too if someone told me my parents were liars about such a big thing.' Erasa replied and she hugged Videl.

'So what do you think?' Videl asked.

'Well, I was trying to talk with you about this before Gohan showed up at the restaurant, but I thought Gohan might be the Goldfighter.'

'Oh yeah, you mentioned that, but why do you think that?'

'Well, remember how Goten turned his hair gold in his fight?' Erasa asked. Videl nodded. 'I figured, if Gohan's little brother can do it, maybe Gohan can do that too, I mean, it does fit. He has the right age, the badge from our school, and he would be the kind of guy to try and hide his identity, he's not someone who is comfortable with a lot of attention. And if my dad had died in the Cell Games seven years ago, I sure as hell wouldn't like to talk about it, especially not if I'd been there too watching him die.'

Videl thought about it. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed to fit. But how could her father have lied about that for so long, to everyone? To her, his own daughter? Weren't there also reporters there? Wouldn't they have known what was going on?

'I just can't believe that my dad would lie about it to everyone, even to me.' Videl admitted.

'Of course you can't.' Erasa said. 'He's your father after all, it's easier for me as he's not my dad.' Erasa paused for a second. 'I'm just wondering, if Gohan really is the Goldfighter, he must be strong too, and a strong Gohan just feels so, I don't know, weird to me. It just doesn't really feel like such a shy and sweet guy could be so strong.'

Now would be as good a time as any to tell Erasa the truth.

'Gohan is actually really strong.' Videl admitted quietly. 'He is actually the Great Saiyaman, I promised him to keep his identity secret after I found out.'

'Why would you promise that?' Erasa asked sceptically.

'I don't know, it felt like he was really scared about it coming out when I confronted him about it.' Videl said. 'He saved my life back then when I first saw him as the Great Saiyaman, and I guess I felt like I owed him or something. Plus he's been teaching me about ki.'

'Ki?' Erasa asked. 'What's that? I've never heard of that.'

'It's what Goten and Trunks used in their fight to fly and use those energy attacks, ki is energy within your body that you can control with practice.' Videl said. 'I had never heard of it before Gohan told me about it. Here, let me show you.'

Videl concentrated and flew about 20 centimetres into the air, and stayed there hovering. Then she formed a ki ball inside her hands and let it glow for a bit while Erasa watched.

'No way, no way.' Erasa said quietly, she was gazing with her mouth wide open. 'Does your dad know about this stuff?'

'I don't think so, he never told me anything about ki, and I didn't tell him about Gohan teaching me.' Videl admitted as she landed again.

'You know what Videl, let's just see how the fights this afternoon turn out.' Erasa offered. 'Your dad's fighting, you're fighting, Gohan's dad is fighting. We'll think about what's true and stuff after that. Now let's go back inside before our food gets cold, you need to eat.'

Back inside, they found Gohan and his mother there, Goku and Goten hadn't returned yet, but Gohan and his mother had already received their food. Videl bowed to Gohan and his mother.

'I'm sorry for how I responded earlier, it was out of line.' Videl said.

'That's okay Videl.' Chi-Chi said. 'I'm glad with your apology.'

'Goku hasn't returned yet with Goten?' Erasa asked.

'No, he hasn't.' Chi-Chi said. 'I'm starting to get a bit worried about Goten, he's the kind of boy that can get himself into a lot of trouble without realising it.'

'Don't worry about it mother.' Gohan said. He already seemed a lot more comfortable again. 'I'm sure Goten's fine. I think he's just embarrassed and sad that he lost his fight.'

Videl and Erasa started eating, then Videl had an idea.

'There's this place not too far from here where they gather children who lost their parents.' Videl said. 'Maybe someone found Goten and brought him there if Goten didn't know where you were.'

'That's a good idea. Gohan, why don't you go with Videl and see if Goten's there?' Chi-Chi said. 'Even if he's not there, tell them where we are so that if they find Goten they can bring him here.'

'Okay mother.' Gohan said. He and Videl picked up their bowls of food and left again, leaving Erasa and Chi-Chi behind in the restaurant.

Videl led the way to the lost children office.

'Gohan.' Videl started hesitantly. 'Is it true what Erasa is saying? Are you really the Goldfighter?'

Gohan fidgeted with his hands again.

'I guess I can't deny it anymore.' Gohan admitted defeated. 'You and Erasa already linked the Goldfighter to the Cell Games on my first day at school, I couldn't keep that disguise anymore, it was too risky, and so I switched to the Great Saiyaman.'

'Only to be identified as the Great Saiyaman on the first day you used it.' Videl remarked. 'You're terrible at keeping a secret identity Gohan.'

'I guess I am.' Gohan said. Videl wanted to ask about what really happened at the Cell Games, wanting to hear Gohan's story, but she was sure Gohan didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't ask. Why did she care so much about Gohan's feelings?

They arrived at the lost children office. Goten didn't seem to be there, but then Videl heard a woman's voice.

'Hey Gohan, what are you doing here?'

A woman with blue hair showed up and greeted them. She was quite a bit older than Videl was, Videl estimated her around Chi-Chi's age, but was still quite pretty for her age and wore an expensive red dress and expensive jewellery.

'Hey Bulma.' Gohan replied. 'We haven't seen Goten since his fight with Trunks, so we came here to see if someone found him.'

'You too?' Bulma exclaimed. 'I haven't seen Trunks either since their fight.'

'I'm sure they're fine.' Gohan said. 'They're probably playing together somewhere and lost track of time.'

'Who's this lady by the way Gohan?'

'Oh, this is Videl.' Gohan introduced her. 'Videl, this is Bulma, she is a good friend of my family and she is the mother of Trunks, who fought Goten this morning.'

'Nice to finally meet you Videl.' Bulma said and she shook her hand. 'I've heard a lot about you from Gohan.'

'Ehm, really?' Videl hesitated. She was surprised, Gohan didn't seem like the person to gossip.

'Bulma works at Capsule Corporation, she helped me with the Saiyaman costume.' Gohan explained.

'That's right. I made him the watch that stores his costume.' Bulma said proudly. 'It works just like a Hoi-Poi Capsule, only it uncapsules around Gohan when he uses it, so he can immediately take the costume on and off. So you're the one who still figured out who Gohan was behind that costume?'

'It wasn't that hard really.' Videl said, trying not to discredit Bulma's design without sounding arrogant. 'He still sounded and acted the same way.'

Bulma sighed. 'Gohan, you're so ignorant of these things sometimes, you're just like your father. Well, not quite as bad but still.'

Gohan turned red and didn't reply, but chose to focus on his food. An announcement was made over the speakers again, Videl recognised the voice as the voice of the referee.

'Look!' Bulma said, pointing at one of the screens that were hanging around everywhere. The screen had been turned on and the referee was talking on it.

'Ladies and gentlemen, we have tallied up the results of the qualifications for the Adult Division.' The announcing referee exclaimed. 'So without further ado, in no particular order, here are our sixteen contestants!'

The referee disappeared and sixteen pictures appeared on screen, with the accompanying names underneath them. Videl looked and recognised her father, herself, Gohan's dad, and Gohan, and she even recognised some faces that were hanging out with Gohan's dad earlier.

'It looks like we both qualified Videl!' Gohan said.

'That's right.' Videl replied cheerfully.

The announcer appeared again on screen, in front of the pictures of the contestants.

'Let's shuffle these contestants and see who fights who in the first round!'

The pictures were blacked out, shuffled, and formed pairs of two in a bracket system. The faces were then revealed again. Videl looked, where was she? Videl found herself in the very first match, and her opponent was… Mr. Satan, her own father!


	11. The First Match

'I've got to fight my dad!' Videl exclaimed.

Gohan looked.

'You're right,' he said. 'You're up in the first match.'

'Who are you up against?' Videl asked and looked. She found Gohan in the second match, his opponent was a fairly old guy named Namu, who looked like he was in his forties already, if not in his fifties. Videl didn't know who this was, she had never heard of him before.

'I don't know him.' Gohan answered.

'I think I recognise him.' Bulma said.

'Really, from where?' Gohan asked.

'I think he fought Goku here once, a long time ago, when your father was still a little boy.' Bulma answered. 'It's just so long ago, I don't remember the details very well.'

'Who's your dad fighting this time?' Videl asked while searching for him on the screen. Videl quickly found Goku, he was in the sixth match, against a creepy-looking guy named Yamu. Yamu's skin was very pale, it looked very unhealthy, and he had some kind of tattoo on his forehead.

'I don't think I've ever seen that creep before.' Bulma noted.

'Neither have I.' Videl said.

The referee appeared again in the screen.

'The first match will start in one hour at 1 o 'clock between the current Champion Mr. Satan and his daughter, previous Junior Division Champion Videl, which promises to be a spectacular fight! Be there!'

And with that he disappeared again, leaving the matchup table visible on display.

The woman behind the desk at the lost children office hummed, apparently it had been their turn for a while already. Bulma took charge.

'I haven't seen my son Trunks since his fight this morning, do you know if anyone found him?'

'As far as I know nobody has found him. But if you write down your name and your phone number we'll call you as soon as someone finds him.'

'That's okay.' Bulma said, and she wrote down her phone number. 'By the way, his opponent from this morning, Son Goten, is also missing. Could you contact me too if you find him?'

'Sure thing.'

'Where are you sitting Gohan?' Bulma asked.

'In the restaurant right next to the stadium.' Gohan said. 'Can you send Goten to us if you find him? My mother's getting really worried.'

'No surprise there, your mom has always been the worrying type.' Bulma noted. 'I'll send him your way if I see him.' Then Bulma turned to Videl.

'Good luck to both of you in your matches this afternoon. It's nice meeting you Videl.'

And she took off. Bulma seemed a lot more modern than Gohan's family. Videl wondered how they ever met. Bulma seemed like the kind of woman to live in a big city and enjoying luxuries there, not like a woman who would venture out to the middle of nowhere where Gohan lived.

'Let's go back.' Gohan said while eating some more of his food. 'Otherwise my mother will get really worried.'

'Wait a minute, it's your turn,' said the woman behind the desk.

'Oh yeah, you're right.' Gohan said muddled. He described Goten to the woman.

'Okay, I've got that,' she said, 'just write down your name and your phone number here and we'll call you as soon as someone finds him.'

'Oh uhmm, I don't really have a phone.' Gohan said hesitantly.

'Don't worry, I've got one.' Videl quickly intervened. 'You can call me if you find Goten, I'm a friend of Gohan,' and Videl quickly wrote down her own phone number and her name.

'Don't you have to fight this afternoon?' The woman asked while looking at the screens that were still showing the matchups. 'You won't be able to answer while in a fight.'

Videl thought for a moment.

'Does your mother have a phone Gohan?' Videl asked.

'No she doesn't.' Gohan answered.

'Well, then we'll just have to give them Erasa's number.' Videl concluded.

'Are you sure that's okay?' Gohan asked hesitantly.

'I'm sure Erasa would be happy to help find your brother back.' Videl said simply. 'This is another number you can call if I don't answer.' Videl quickly wrote down Erasa's number before Gohan could object more.

On the way back Videl was nervous for her first fight and was silently eating. She had to fight her father, who may or may not be way stronger than her. Gohan's silence didn't help much either, he was focusing on his food. They arrived at the restaurant in silence. Gohan's dad still hadn't returned, while Erasa was in a lively conversation with Gohan's mom about school.

'Hey, welcome back.' Erasa exclaimed when seeing them. 'So Goten wasn't there was he?'

'No, he wasn't.' Videl answered. 'But I left both mine and your phone numbers there, if they find him they'll call either of us.'

'I hope you don't mind Erasa.' Gohan said nervously.

'Oh no, that's alright, I'm happy to help out.' Erasa said cheerfully and Gohan sighed of relief. 'By the way, why didn't you tell me you were fighting too Gohan?'

Gohan hesitated nervously again, it was quite comical to see him fidgeting again right so quickly after calming down.

'Well uhmm,' Gohan started hesitantly, 'I just didn't want everyone to know I can fight.'

Erasa nodded.

'You were scared everyone would think you're a freak with your ki powers?' Erasa asked. Gohan flinched from that comment.

'I guess I am.' Gohan admitted.

'It's okay Gohan, I won't tell anyone.' Erasa said while smiling. 'I don't think you're a freak though, but that ki stuff is pretty freaky.'

Goku entered again. Chi-Chi quickly addressed him.

'Goku, have you found Goten?'

'I can't find him anywhere Chi-Chi, and I'm really getting hungry.' Goku said. 'I'm sure Goten's fine Chi-Chi,' he added quickly after seeing Chi-Chi's face.

'I'm not so sure he is Goku!' Chi-Chi replied angrily. 'He's only six years old, who knows what could have happened to him! You're so careless Goku, you haven't changed one bit since you died have you?'

Videl and Erasa quietly ate, not wanting to interfere. Videl had no idea what could have happened to Goten, but the times she met him he seemed well-mannered, although a bit bold.

'We met Bulma at the lost children office.' Gohan said. 'Apparently Trunks is missing too.'

'See Chi-Chi?' Goku said. 'They're just playing somewhere together and forgot about us.'

Chi-Chi wasn't convinced.

'Two young children are missing Goku! Can't you sense their ki?'

'Not when I'm this hungry.'

Videl had to agree with Chi-Chi, Goku seemed really careless. His own son was missing and he seemed to care more about food. At that time three waiters came with Goku's food, it was far too much for one person to carry.

'Goku!'

'Come on Chi-Chi, I'll go search again after I finish eating, I'm only in the sixth match anyway.'

And with that he started eating. With Goku's food here, Chi-Chi seemed to realise there was no convincing Goku to go search for Goten anymore. Goku's table manners were non-existent, causing Erasa to cringe, but the speed with which he ate was very impressive, within half an hour Goku had finished his food.

'He actually ate all that food.' Erasa whispered to Videl. 'I knew guys had a large appetite but this is ridiculous.' Gohan smiled apologetically to Erasa, evidently having heard her again.

'Aww, that was good.' Goku said.

'Now please go and find Goten and Trunks Goku!' Chi-Chi said. 'I'm really worried, it's been over an hour now since we last saw them and Videl and Erasa haven't been called either. I'm sure Bulma would've contacted us if she found them too, she knows Goten's missing.'

'Alright, I'll go look for them.' Goku said. He looked at the screen. 'I'm in the sixth match right?'

Goku asked that question in an odd non-rhetorical way, as if he wasn't sure of the answer. Gohan looked too.

'Yes, you are father.' Gohan said. _Did Gohan's dad not know how to read that table?_

'Great, then I still have some time.' And Goku quickly left looking for Goten and Trunks again, before Chi-Chi could say finding Goten was much more important than his fight.

'Videl?' Erasa stomped her. 'It's a quarter to one, I think you should go to the stadium, you're in the first fight.'

'Oh yeah, you're right.'

'Just do your best Videl, show your dad and everyone else how strong you are!' Erasa encouraged.

'I think you should go with her Gohan.' Chi-Chi said. 'You'll be up after Videl.'

'Right.' Gohan said.

'Hey Erasa, why don't you sit with us in the audience?' Chi-Chi offered. 'Otherwise you'll be all alone, plus if they find Goten you can tell me immediately.'

'That sounds lovely.' Erasa said cheerfully. 'Hey Gohan, Videl!'

Gohan and Videl looked up from packing their stuff. 'I'll be rooting for both of you, good luck!'

'Thanks Erasa.' Videl said, while Gohan turned red.

'Hey come here.' Erasa said, and she hugged Videl, sensing her nervousness. 'It'll all be okay.'

Erasa turned to Gohan.

'And you too.' And with that Erasa hugged Gohan before he could respond, Gohan's red colour spread across his entire head. 'It's okay Gohan.'

Videl pretended to be occupied with paying the bill of Erasa and herself, but it was quite funny to see how red Gohan could go. Erasa released Gohan and waved both of them off, and they left for the stadium.

Even if the stadium hadn't been right outside of the restaurant, Videl and Gohan still wouldn't have said anything to each other on the way there. Videl was too nervous, having to fight her father, and Gohan was Gohan. They separated into the different changing rooms. Videl equipped her gi, noticing the logo of her father's dojo on it. It felt tainted somehow, her doubts of her father's truthfulness regarding the Cell Games made her feel reluctant against wearing that logo. _Come on Videl, you don't have anything else with you, it's just a gi!_ Eventually she had it fully equipped, and slowly walked to the ring. She imagined Erasa again, saying with her light-hearted voice that it would all be okay, that there was nothing to worry about. Videl arrived at the ring, and saw her father standing there already. He noticed her arrival.

'Hey Videl, let's make this a good match for the fans,' he said. 'It's too bad we're already up against each other in the first round, you could have made it far otherwise!'

Her father probably intended to cheer Videl up, but all it did was upset her, talking as if he had already beaten her. Somehow, that anger set her mind straight again. She had a purpose. This fight would point out the truth. If Gohan and his dad had both lost to Cell but her dad had won, Mr. Satan would be way stronger than her. But if the story from Gohan's mom was true, she had a good shot at this fight.

'We'll see about that dad.' She said coldly. 'What I said this morning was true, I've grown a lot stronger.'

Mr. Satan flinched at that reaction. He seemed kind of nervous. It was a reaction Videl had never seen in him before, he had always seemed so confident in his abilities.

The loud referee called them both to the ring.

'Let us welcome the current Champion and saviour of us all, Mr. Satan!'

Mr. Satan raised up his hands and waved at the audience, walking into the ring.

'And his opponent is none other than his daughter Videl!' The referee called out. 'Videl has a lot of experience in all kinds of combat, having fought both in Tournaments and on the streets against criminals who don't fight fair. Although she is small, it would be extremely unwise to underestimate Videl! Four years ago she became the Champion to the Junior Division. Let me tell you that she actually scored higher than Mr. Satan this morning during the qualifications, so this is bound to be an exciting match!'

Mr. Satan was startled by that last statement, but he managed to hide his reaction very quickly. Videl doubted anyone else had noticed. Videl walked into the ring with a confidence she hadn't felt five minutes ago. Even if she lost, she wouldn't go down easily, and definitely not without giving it her all. Her father put up his guard, and so did Videl.

'Are you ready?!' The announcer screamed. 'BEGIN!'

Mr. Satan kept his guard up, keeping a defensive position. He didn't seem to have the intention of making the first move. Well, then she'd just have to break his guard. Videl knew exactly how to, she attacked his guarding arm from the back side with a powerful high kick, and proceeded with her second power kick attacking his lower back. Mr. Satan stumbled a bit from her attack but stayed afoot and quickly put his guard back up.

'And Videl manages to get the first direct hit in by breaking the Champion's guard! She certainly is no pushover! How will the Champion respond?!'

Mr. Satan kept his guard up, while Videl awaited his move.

'What's up dad, are you scared?' Videl taunted just loud enough so the referee could hear it.

'Ooh, and Videl is taunting her father now! That's very bold of her!'

The audience started booing her father for staying defensive. He hadn't made a single move yet. Mr. Satan quickly grew agitated and went for the offensive, but Videl expected that. He was slower than she anticipated, which made it all the more easy, and she countered his punching attempt by throwing him over her shoulder.

'And a nice counter by Videl! Could the Champion be in trouble?!'

'What's wrong dad? I expected you to be way stronger.'

Mr. Satan didn't respond. Videl started to see a shimmer of fear in his eyes. Was she really that much more skilled than he was? She hadn't even used her ki yet. Mr. Satan went in for another attack while Videl was distracted by her thoughts, and Videl had to quickly move to dodge it. _Damn that was close._ Mr. Satan kept on the attacks, following up quickly with a low sweeping kick. Videl jumped to dodge it, but her father had anticipated that, and went for a punch while she was in mid-air. Instinctively, Videl forced her ki sideways to fly out of the way.

Mr. Satan looked at Videl as she landed, and seemed confused as to how she managed to move while airborne.

'Videl keeps on managing to dodge her father's attacks, he hasn't managed to get a single hit in yet, but Videl was forced on the defensive!'

The referee was right, she had to go on the offensive to win this. She jumped towards him and used her ki to accelerate her motion, managing to hit him in the head with her kick.

'That's a powerful kick by Videl!' The referee exclaimed. But Videl wasn't done yet, she followed up with several quick blows to his stomach area, giving him no time to respond, and concluded with an uppercut that she put a little bit of ki in. Mr. Satan fell backwards on his back.

'It looks like Mr. Satan is down after that incredible combination by Videl! One! Two! Three! Four!'

But Mr. Satan quickly recovered and stood back up. His face was bruised, but he wasn't out yet.

'No, the Champion won't go down that quickly! The match continues!'

The audience grew louder.

'Videl! Videl! Videl! Videl!' Was heard throughout the stadium.

'Did you defeat Cell like this dad, or are you just holding back because I'm your daughter?' Videl asked loudly.

Mr. Satan did not respond, he still seemed to feel the pain from her last attack, but Videl was sure he had heard her. Was he holding back or was this all he had? Videl was tired of being conflicted and not knowing the truth. She'd have to ramp it up even further to force him to do better.

Videl followed up with another attack. She jumped over her father, using her ki to amplify her jumping power, and attacked Mr. Satan with another powerful kick on the back of his head while still in mid-air, and he went down again. The improvements to her mid-air balance granted by her flying skill were incredible. Before she had known about ki, she wouldn't have been able to initiate such a powerful kick while in the air.

'And he's down again! One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six!'

Mr. Satan stood back up, and went on the offensive. But in desperation and a failure to anticipate Videl's counter, he missed how close they were to the edge of the ring, Videl countered her father's kick with a grab and used his momentum to toss him over the edge. _If you are actually strong, you should be able to fly out of this!_ But he didn't fly. He fell outside the ring.

'Mr. Satan landed out of the ring!' The referee called out. 'What a surprise! The Champion is out of the competition after the first match! The winner is Videl!'


	12. Matches Continue

The audience went crazy over Videl's victory, but strangely enough Videl didn't seem to cheer along with them. She slowly started to walk out of the ring, and she met Gohan just outside of the ring.

'Hey Videl, you fought really well, congratulations!' Gohan said.

'Thanks Great Saiyaman, you're up next right?' Videl said.

'That's right.' Gohan replied. Videl looked sad, Gohan didn't understand why. Should he offer her help? Before Gohan reached a decision, Mr. Satan quickly left the ring, while Gohan's opponent Namu appeared. Namu had a dark skin-tone and wore colourful robes, although not as vibrantly coloured as Gohan's Saiyaman outfit. The loud referee quickly announced their entry.

'In the second fight of the first round, we have Namu fighting the Great Saiyaman! So let us welcome them to the ring!'

Gohan and Namu both walked into the ring together.

'This is the first Tournament entry for the Great Saiyaman, however he is already well known in Satan City where he has done various deeds of heroism together with Videl! His opponent Namu has appeared 24 years ago in the Tournament and he proved himself a capable fighter back then. We will see how much Namu has improved over the years, or maybe whether age has caught up with him!'

Gohan and Namu took their positions and bowed to each other.

'And begin!'

Namu lunged in for a karate chop. He was quite fast, certainly faster than Mr. Satan, but Gohan blocked Namu's attack. But Namu wasn't done yet, he proceeded with several attacks in quick succession, and Gohan blocked each one.

'Not too bad, but let's see how you handle this.' Namu said, and he jumped up high.

'Oh, and Namu takes the fight to the skies with a massive jump.' The referee exclaimed. 'It looks like he jumped about 40 metres into the sky, what an amazing jump!'

Gohan was impressed by Namu's jump, it didn't feel like he used any ki at all for it. Namu came back down with an aerial kicking attack. Gohan saw it coming and quickly jumped out of the way, but Namu managed to steer his fall with his ki and hit Gohan in the chest anyway. Gohan had not expected Namu to use ki and was knocked back. Namu landed after the kick and immediately attacked afterwards, going with a powerful second kick to Gohan's chest.

But Gohan was prepared for Namu's second attack and blocked it with his hand. Gohan went in for an attack of his own, grabbing Namu's foot with both hands and trying to throw him out of the ring. But Namu managed to grab Gohan's foot while being swung around, causing Gohan to lose balance and fall over. Both fighters quickly stood back up.

'What a fight ladies and gentlemen, Namu managed to counter the Great Saiyaman's throw by grabbing his opponent's foot, right after the Great Saiyaman managed to stay standing against Namu's aerial attack from over ten stories high!' The announcer exclaimed.

Gohan had to agree, Namu was strong. Gohan would have to put in more effort if he wanted to win this. Losing in the first round would disappoint everyone. Gohan started to move quickly, trying to disorient Namu, and went in for a grabbing attack from the back. But Namu jumped up right before Gohan managed to grab him. _He sensed my approach!_ Gohan jumped up after him and grabbed Namu in the air, holding him in a lock. They started to descend and landed, while Gohan still had Namu in his lock.

'I'm sorry, but you can't win this, you'd better give up.' Gohan said.

'I can't give up. You are even stronger than the little boy I fought all those years ago, but I have to win this.' Namu replied.

'And it looks like the Great Saiyaman has Namu bound, how will Namu respond?'

Gohan bound him harder, trying to make his opponent surrender. Namu struggled to free himself but simply did not have the power to do so, even with his ki, Gohan was simply too strong for him.

'Come on Namu, I don't want to hurt you.' Gohan said. 'You won't escape from this, please surrender the fight.'

'I can't give up, my people depend on me.' Namu gasped.

'What do you mean?' Gohan asked.

'My village,' Namu gasped, 'they need the prize money… to clean the toxic area.'

Gohan was shocked, he didn't expect people to use the prize money for such noble causes, and in his shock Namu managed to break free.

'A toxic area?' Gohan asked. 'What do you mean?'

'Wow, it looks like Namu managed to break free from the Great Saiyaman's hold!' The announcer exclaimed.

'The fields that we grow our food on, they have been polluted, intoxicating our crops.' Namu said.

Gohan was torn, what should he do? Throw the fight for Namu? But there was no way Namu would win the Tournament, his dad and Vegeta would never throw their fights and they were way stronger than Namu. Throwing the fight wouldn't help Namu. Maybe Bulma could help Namu's village though, maybe they had some cleansing method at Capsule Corp. Namu started to attack again. Gohan blocked his attacks with ease, and managed to grab Namu in a lock again.

'It's no use Namu, you're not strong enough.' Gohan said. 'But maybe I can help you some other way after the Tournament.'

'If I surrender, you will help my village?' Namu gasped.

'You have my word.' Gohan said.

'Okay.' Namu said, and he raised his voice. 'I surrender.'

'That's it folks, Namu has surrendered!' The referee exclaimed. 'After a fierce fight with the Great Saiyaman, Namu has thrown in the towel. The winner is the Great Saiyaman! Please, a big round of applause for these two fighters!'

The audience cheered and applauded for Namu and Gohan, and they left the ring together.

'And now for our third battle, please welcome our next two fighters. Tenshinhan and Jules!'

Gohan saw Tenshinhan walk to the ring, he gave a quick nod to Gohan and continued. Tenshinhan was a tall fighter, completely bald, and strong muscles. He had a third eye on his forehead that he used to improve his vision, but the origin of this eye was unknown to Gohan. Tenshinhan was a fighter Gohan did not know very well, but Gohan had fought alongside him in the past a few times. Goku knew him better, having fought with him in previous Tournaments. His opponent Jules was a fighter Gohan did not know at all, he looked like a man of average height with long blonde hair. Namu started talking to Gohan.

'I want to thank you Great Saiyaman, if you can help my village we would be eternally grateful to you.'

Gohan still had more fights to do at the Tournament, and Goten was also still missing, judging from the fact that Gohan didn't see his father anywhere. He did want to help Namu, but now was not the best time.

'Sure, but let's discuss this after the Tournament, I still have more fights to do later on.' Gohan said.

'Tenshinhan is a fighter who was trained in the past by the Crane Hermit Tsuru-Sen'nin, but left that school after differences in opinion with the Crane Hermit.' The referee started talking. 'In his previous Tournament entries Tenshinhan proved to be an extremely potent fighter with an aggressive fighting style, a huge amount of techniques up his sleeve, and unbelievable strength and skill. Tenshinhan is also a previous World Champion himself. Underestimating Tenshinhan is something no fighter should ever consider doing. His opponent Jules has appeared in the previous Tournament where he lost in the final match to Mr. Satan, and he is particularly well liked by the ladies.'

Tenshinhan and Jules both took their positions, bowed, and raised their guard.

'Alright then, the third match in the first round here at the World Martial Arts Tournament, it is Tenshinhan versus Jules. Let the match begin!'

The match was over before it began. Tenshinhan quickly moved behind Jules and hit him with a karate chop to the neck, before Jules even had a clue what had happened. Jules went down.

'Wow, it looks like Jules is down after that very fast attack by Tenshinhan! One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Fighter Jules loses by knockout. It looks like Tenshinhan is still as fearsome and powerful as ever. The winner is Tenshinhan!'

Gohan was impressed by Tenshinhan's power. He clearly had been training for the last seven years. Gohan hadn't trained much for a long time, apart from some training sessions with Goten. But Gohan wouldn't have to fight Tenshinhan until the third round if both of them continued winning. He shouldn't be worrying already.

'It looks like Jules still isn't capable of getting up. I think we'll need a stretcher here?!'

A stretcher quickly showed up and they carried Jules away, while Tenshinhan walked out of the ring again. He quickly nodded to Gohan and stayed outside the ring to watch the next match. Gohan actually wanted to talk to him, but they had all decided this morning after the qualifying round that it might not be smart to talk to everyone while Gohan was in his Saiyaman outfit, it'd be counterproductive to keep his identity secret. The only one who Gohan could really talk to as the Great Saiyaman was Videl, people would simply assume they knew each other from crime-fighting, but Gohan didn't see her anywhere. Did Videl even watch his fight? What was it with this Tournament that everyone started to get missing? First Goten and Trunks, and now Videl too?

'It is time for our fourth match in the first round ladies and gentlemen.' The announcer exclaimed. 'Can Kibito and Krillin come to the ring please?!'

Kibito and Krillin entered the ring. Kibito was a fighter Gohan did not know, he was very tall, Gohan estimated him well over 2 metres, and had pointy ears. His hair was long and white, and he wore robes made of a material Gohan had never seen before. Krillin looked completely different from Kibito, with his short stature of slightly over 150 cm, his bald head, and his orange fighting gi from the Turtle Hermit School. Gohan knew Krillin well, they had fought together several times in the past, and saved each other's life on more than one occasion. The announcer started introducing the fighters.

'Kibito is a newcomer to the Tournament, and he refused any interviews, so we know very little about this fighter. His opponent Krillin on the other hand is quite the accomplished fighter, having already participated in three previous Tournaments in which he showed to be a strong fighter with tremendous progress despite his small size. Krillin was trained for years by Kame-Sen'nin, the Turtle Hermit School, and still wears the gi from that school today. Underestimating Krillin is a mistake nobody should be making.'

'Without further ado; Kibito versus Krillin - let the match begin!'

Krillin gained speed and moved around the ring quickly, hoping to disorient Kibito. Krillin went in for an attack from the side, but Kibito jumped backwards and dodged it. Krillin quickly went on the pursuit and increased his speed further. Kibito certainly was much stronger than Jules was, Krillin was much faster than the speed Tenshinhan showed earlier. Kibito was forced to block several attacks and jumped to the sky. Krillin didn't want to lose momentum and flew after Kibito. He managed to grab Kibito's foot and immediately flew downwards, trying to throw Kibito out of the ring. Kibito wasn't having any of that and he threw a ki blast at Krillin, who barely managed to dodge it. Kibito's ki blast hit the ring hard, causing a big explosion. The two fighters landed opposite to each other in the ring. The referee took the brief pause in the action as an opportunity to talk about the fight.

'Kibito managed to counter Krillin's toss with his energy attack, but Krillin managed to dodge that attack! What a fight! This fight is still anyone's guess!'

Krillin tried a different approach. He concentrated his ki and fired upwards into the sky, where he collected it above the ring.

'Krillin appears to be trying a new technique. I haven't seen this technique before, what could he be planning?!'

Krillin concentrated more ki into his big ball above the ring and started attacking with it. He rapidly launched ki blasts from the big ball, aiming at Kibito. Gohan was impressed, being able to control all that ki and separating it like that wasn't easy. Meanwhile, Kibito moved quickly around the ring trying to dodge Krillin's attack. He certainly was fast, but Krillin managed to keep up. Kibito tried to approach Krillin, hoping that Krillin would not fire at himself, but Krillin had been anticipating that. Krillin left an after-image at his original location, and let all the remaining ki rain down on Kibito. The after-image technique, or Zanzouken, Gohan knew, was a technique that you could use to create a virtual image of yourself using your ki to linger behind a place where you were before. In the heat of battle, opponents would mistakenly think your image was you. It was exactly like Krillin to combine it like that, Krillin was never a fighter to rely on brute strength or pure speed alone. But Krillin wasn't done yet, he knew that his energy attack alone wouldn't be enough to knock Kibito out for ten seconds, so he quickly approached for a quick kick while Kibito was still dazed from the energy attack. Krillin managed to kick Kibito out of the ring into the boarding.

'Wow, what an amazing combination by Krillin!' The referee exclaimed. 'Kibito is out of the ring! The winner is Krillin! His powerful energy attack combined with the after-image technique caught Kibito off-guard, and as a result Kibito got the direct hit from that energy attack and sent out of the ring! Like I said ladies and gentlemen, Krillin is absolutely not a fighter to underestimate.'


	13. Lost and Found

The audience was excited for Krillin's victory. Gohan doubted that they could have actually seen Krillin's last attack well, it didn't even sound like the referee had seen Krillin's last kick. But Krillin's energy attack had been spectacular for the crowd and they loved it. Krillin smiled and happily walked out of the arena.

'Good fight Krillin.' Tenshinhan said.

'Thanks.' Krillin replied. 'It was my best opportunity, I didn't want to waste all my energy, I still have to fight you in the next round.'

'You're right. I can't wait to fight you.'

The announcer started to speak again.

'After that spectacular battle we will take a fifteen minute break for ring repairs,' he exclaimed. Sure enough, when Gohan looked the ring was indeed cracked and damaged, probably from Krillin's energy attack.

Gohan looked around, he saw Kibito congratulating Krillin, he saw most other fighters, but he still didn't see Videl anywhere, and she was the only person he could actually talk to as the Great Saiyaman. She had been gone for how long? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? First Goten and Trunks went missing, and now Videl too? When Goten and Trunks were gone he had just assumed they were off playing somewhere, but now he wasn't so sure anymore. Then Gohan had an idea. He quickly went to the changing room and put his Saiyaman costume back in its capsule, then ran to the stairs to the crowds. Within a couple of minutes, Gohan found his mother sitting together with Erasa, his grandfather, Master Roshi, his father's old friend Yamcha, Krillin's daughter Marron, and Bulma. Chi-Chi was the first to notice him.

'Hey Gohan, good to see you.'

'Hey mother.' Gohan replied. 'I guess Goten and Trunks are still missing?'

'Yes, I don't know where they are, and I'm getting really worried!'

'I think Videl is also gone, I haven't seen her at all outside the ring since her battle.'

'Videl too?!' Chi-Chi cried out. 'Something must have happened to them!'

'I was thinking maybe Erasa could try calling Videl, maybe finding Videl will help us find Goten.'

'That's a great idea Gohan.' Erasa said and she quickly pulled out her phone and called Videl. It looked like Videl answered.

'Hey Videl, how's it going?' Erasa started cheerfully. 'Congrats on your win, you were awesome.'

Erasa listened to Videl's reply.

'I'm sorry, I can't really hear you, the crowd's kinda loud.' Erasa said, upon which Bulma tapped her shoulder. 'Wait, one second.'

Bulma reached into her pocket and handed Erasa a capsule.

'That's an anti-phase sound headphone made for when you're calling.' Bulma said. 'I made it myself, it should cut out the crowd noise.'

'Wow, thanks a lot Bulma.' Erasa proclaimed, she quickly uncapsuled it and put it on.

'Hey Videl, back again, I can hear you clearly now.' Erasa said and she gave a thumbs up to Bulma, who winked at her.

'By the way, Gohan's here with us in the audience, he's saying that you've been missing since your fight, he's kinda concerned with his brother also missing and everything.'

Erasa's face turned a bit more serious when hearing Videl's reply.

'I get that Videl, do you want to meet up outside the stadium and talk about it a bit?'

'Alright then, I'll see you right there.'

Erasa hung up her phone and handed Bulma's device back.

'Thanks a lot Bulma.' Erasa said and she turned to Chi-Chi and Gohan. 'Videl is okay, she just wanted to be alone for a bit. I'll go see her now, I'm here primarily for her and Gohan anyway, and you two won't be up again until the next round.'

'Does she know where Goten and Trunks are?' Chi-Chi asked worryingly.

'I'm afraid not.' Erasa replied sad. 'I'm sure she would've told us if she knew anything. But I won't be gone for long, I'll have to go see her now. I promise I'll let you know immediately if I find out anything about Goten.'

Erasa quickly left to talk to Videl.

'Maybe I should go out for a walk too for a while.' Master Roshi said. Chi-Chi gave him a venomous look.

'Don't you dare to disturb those poor girls you old creep.' Chi-Chi said with more venom in her voice than Gohan had ever heard from his mother. Roshi flinched and retreated back to his seat quickly. Gohan in the meantime was worried about Goten, although he cringed at Roshi's intent once his mother let him realise what Roshi meant.

'I'm going to go too.' Gohan said. 'I'm going to go and look for Goten, he's been gone for over two hours and I'm getting worried.'

'Where are you going to look?' Bulma asked. 'Goku has been looking for them for a while and I don't think he has found them yet.'

'I don't know.' Gohan admitted. The announcer appeared back in the ring. It looked like they were done with the repairs to the ring.

'Ladies and gentlemen, after that brief intermission it is time for the next fight in the fifth round. Please welcome to the ring, Vegeta and Mighty Mask!'

Gohan prepared to leave, he didn't know this Mighty Mask guy at all and he didn't particularly care for Vegeta. Vegeta and Mighty Mask entered the ring, when Yamcha grabbed Gohan's arm.

'Gohan, look at that Mighty Mask guy.' Yamcha said. Gohan looked. Mighty Mask looked really distorted, his arms and legs looked far too short for his body. His outfit looked weird too, he wore long robes that covered his body, and wore a mask over his head that concealed his head.

'He looks weird, how does he fight in that?' Gohan remarked. 'Wouldn't that massively constrain your movement?'

'I don't know, but do you feel his ki?'

Master Roshi also took a good look, and Gohan tried to sense Mighty Mask's ki. It felt different, as if his ki didn't really occupy the centre of his body, but partially above and partially below it. The announcer started introducing the two fighters.

'Both Vegeta and Mighty Mask are new to the World Martial Arts Tournament, and both also refused all interviews, so I really don't know anything about them. We'll have to see for ourselves.'

Mighty Mask and Vegeta took their places in the ring, neither of them bowed. Gohan tried to sense the ki again, concentrating a bit harder.

'Let the match begin!'

Concentrating better, Gohan sensed it. The ki in Mighty Mask's upper half was slightly different from the ki in his lower half, as if belonging to different people. And he also had those short arms and legs…

'Could it be?' Gohan started, when Vegeta immediately went in for the attack.

* * *

Videl was on her own in the pancake restaurant near the airport. Gohan had just defeated Namu without even attacking once, and she saw Tenshinhan and Jules enter the ring on the big screen, the referee claimed that Tenshinhan was a previous Champion. Videl didn't know what to do anymore. Her father had lied to her, to everyone. She had always looked up to him, he had been the hero that saved everyone. Before today, Videl had also been a hero of Satan City, daughter of Mr. Satan, the big hero of the entire world. But now, Videl was no longer daughter of a hero, but daughter of a liar. He knew all this time what had been real, the achievements of Gohan who destroyed Cell and stopped those bank robbers, but he had downplayed and corrupted those achievements as scams, instead posing as if he did things he hadn't done for his own personal gain. What did that make her? She had worked her entire life to follow into her father's footsteps. Was she destined to become a lying scumbag too? Videl looked to the screen again, Tenshinhan had just knocked out Jules in a single hit and the announcer called for a stretcher. It didn't really register to Videl, being caught in her own doubts.

 _Fuck my dad! I'm done following him!_ Videl went outside to the airport, which was now pretty much deserted. She uncapsuled her bag, took out the fighting gi with her father's logo on it, and tossed the gi forcefully on the ground. Videl cursed at it several times. Then her anger overtook her. She grabbed the gi and threw it into the sky. She aimed her arm at the gi, and fired a small ki blast at it. The gi tore to pieces which caught fire in mid-air. Within a minute the entire gi was gone.

'That's it, fuck you!' Videl cried. 'Destroyed by a stupid magic trick!'

Videl started slowly walking back. Seeing that gi burn had been satisfying. She heard the announcer again, there really was no escaping it.

'Kibito managed to counter Krillin's toss with his energy attack, but Krillin managed to dodge that attack! What a fight! This fight is still anyone's guess!'

 _An energy attack?_

Videl looked at a screen again, those screens really were everywhere. She didn't know either of these fighters, but she recognised the smaller one from the group that Gohan was hanging out with during the qualifications. She saw the smaller fighter conjure up his ki attack and concentrate it in the sky above the arena.

'Krillin appears to be trying a new technique. I haven't seen this technique before, what could he be planning?!'

So the smaller fighter was Krillin. Videl was impressed by his ki control, especially when Krillin started his attack. She saw Kibito try to dodge, but the cameraman had trouble keeping up. Once he got a good shot again Kibito was going straight for Krillin, but moved right through him! _What the hell?_ At that point all of the remaining ki from above bombed down on Kibito while Krillin appeared to vanish. Then Videl saw it: another Krillin appeared and kicked Kibito out of the ring while Kibito was distracted by the ki bombardment.

'Wow, what an amazing combination by Krillin! Kibito is out of the ring! The winner is Krillin! His powerful energy attack combined with the after-image technique caught Kibito off-guard, and as a result Kibito got the direct hit from that energy attack and sent out of the ring! Like I said ladies and gentlemen, Krillin is absolutely not a fighter to underestimate.'

 _The after-image technique?_ What was that? Was that the disappearing trick that Krillin did, letting Kibito move right through him? How the hell did he do that? Maybe Gohan could explain it.

 _Fuck Gohan!_ Gohan had been playing along with her father all this time, hiding the fact that he was strong, hiding the fact that he had been the one to defeat Cell, hiding all these kinds of possibilities. Gohan was just as much of a liar as her dad was. In the middle of her rant, Videl suddenly realised that she had to fight Gohan in the next round. _Fuck them all, I already defeated my dad, I'll defeat Gohan too!_

Videl got a phone call, she saw it was Erasa. At least Erasa could be counted on to be fair. Videl answered the phone.

'Hey Erasa.'

'Hey Videl, how's it going?' Erasa started in her usual cheerful self. 'Congrats on your win, you were awesome.'

'Thanks Erasa.' Videl replied. 'How are you doing back there?'

'I'm sorry, I can't really hear you, the crowd's kinda loud.' Erasa said. 'Wait, one second.'

'Alright, I'm back, I can hear you clearly now.' Erasa said, and the crowd sound was completely gone for some reason. 'By the way, Gohan's here with us in the audience, he's saying that you've been missing since your fight, he's kinda concerned with his brother also missing and everything.'

'Fuck Gohan! He's been lying to me the whole time about the Cell Games thing, I don't want to see him anymore!' Videl snapped.

'I get that Videl, do you want to meet up outside the stadium and talk about it for a bit?' Erasa said.

'I guess, but don't bring Gohan, I don't want to see him!'

'Alright then, see you there in a minute.'

They hung up. Videl walked back to the stadium, and arrived there just as Erasa walked out, and the referee announcing the next match to begin.

'Hey Videl, good to see you!'

'Hey there Erasa.'

'Hi there you two!'

Goku just flew down and landed next to them.

'What are you two doing here?' Goku asked.

'We're just having a bit of a walk.' Erasa said quickly. 'How about you, did you already find Goten?'

'No I haven't, but Chi-Chi's just way too worried, I'm sure Goten's fine.' Goku said carefree. 'And it's my turn to fight soon.'

'Where have you looked for him?' Erasa asked sceptically.

'Well, I looked in most of the restaurants, I figured he must be hungry since he didn't eat with us during the lunch, and then I got kinda distracted and watched most of the fights on the screens.' Goku turned his attention back to Videl. 'Well done on your fight by the way Videl, it didn't look like it was too difficult for you, and that means you were really good. I don't think you got hit even once.' Goku watched the screen on the stadium. 'Hey look, Vegeta's fighting!'

'Who's Vegeta?' Videl asked.

'He's the short guy with the big hair.' Goku answered, motioning to the big screen hanging on the stadium. 'He's really strong, I can't wait to fight him again.'

'The other guy looks really weird.' Erasa remarked. 'Look how short his arms are!'

'Yeah, and his shoes too, they're like little kid's shoes.' Videl noticed. Goku looked. 'He looks funny.'

Vegeta attacked quickly, going for a frontal attack, but Mighty Mask dodged it quickly by moving sideways. Vegeta slided with both legs and one arm across the ring, gripped with his hand and turned rapidly, using his feet to go for a low sweeping kick. Mighty Mask jumped up to dodge and rapidly launched ki blasts back at Vegeta. Vegeta didn't even bother to dodge, he just took it head-on and flew after Mighty Mask, as if the ki blasts didn't even affect him. He quickly knocked Mighty Mask down with a blow to the head, and he crashed onto the ring at high speed.

'Wow, what a powerful blow by Vegeta.' The announcer exclaimed. 'One! Two! Three! Four!'

But Mighty Mask got back up, and a golden glow suddenly surrounded him. He looked up at Vegeta who was hovering above him, focused his ki, and launched a very strong ki blast at Vegeta. It was golden and bright, a beam of light. Vegeta dodged it and quickly descended, appearing behind his opponent. Mighty Mask was fast though, he managed to turn around and go for a punch quickly. Vegeta was knocked back, but he bounced back on his hands and flipped back on his feet.

'Vegeta's balance is amazing.' Videl noted. 'While the balance of Mighty Mask seems really weird, as if his body moves differently somehow.'

Vegeta started to glow with a white light around him, and went in for the attack again. He picked up insane speed and punched Mighty Mask in the face. He flew around Mighty Mask, who was falling backwards, and knocked him into the ring from behind. But Vegeta wasn't done yet. He grabbed his opponent's leg and swung him around at high speed. In the rotation Mighty Mask's top half appeared to separate from his lower half, and flew off at high speed.

'Mighty Mask has been cut in half!' The announcer screamed out, but he was wrong. Sticking out from the bottom remainder of Mighty Mask's robe was a golden-haired boy with glowing hair and an orange gi.

'See, Goten's right there!' Goku said cheerfully. 'He's fine!'

'That's not Goten.' Videl said. 'Goten has black hair like you.'

Vegeta jumped up and tossed the little boy down at high speed. He crashed hard. Erasa screamed out.

'Oh my god, he's just a little boy!'

 _Wow, I don't think he's still fine Goku._

The little boy's hair changed to a black colour somehow.

'See, I told you, it's Goten.' Goku said. At that time, another golden-haired boy got back up from the ring boarding, and his hair changed to a dark purple colour.

'And that's Trunks over there!' Goku said. The referee intervened.

'Mighty Mask has been disqualified for fighting as two underage people. Also, one of his halves landed outside of the ring! The winner is Vegeta!'


	14. Battle of Heroes

'Wow, Vegeta's still as strong as ever.' Goku said excitedly. 'I think it's my turn now, I better get going, I'll see you later.' He quickly ran into the stadium.

'What the hell is wrong with that guy?!' Erasa cried out.

'Never mind him, what about Goten?!' Videl said quickly. 'Is he still alive?!'

They both looked at the screen. Goten slowly stood back up, he looked a bit bruised, but it didn't look like he broke anything. How sturdy was he?

'He's still alive!' Erasa cried out. 'Wait, is that Gohan's mom?'

It looked like Chi-Chi jumped down across the seats in the audience to the ring, she was really fast and agile. She ran to the ring and examined Goten, as Vegeta landed back in the ring and wanted to walk out. Chi-Chi stopped Vegeta and appeared to shout at him angrily, but Vegeta didn't seem to care. Chi-Chi slapped Vegeta fiercely in the face, picked Goten up, and carried him back to the audience, while Vegeta looked at Chi-Chi with a bit of a daze.

'You go girl!' Erasa exclaimed.

Bulma arrived at the ring and examined Trunks. Trunks was in a better state than Goten, he seemed to be relatively unharmed, and Bulma took him away to the audience too. The announcer took the word again.

'And it is now time for our sixth fight. Son Goku and Yamu, come to the ring please!'

Goku and Yamu entered the ring. Videl and Erasa both got the creeps from Yamu, his skin was ridiculously pale, as if he was a ghoul or something, it looked very unhealthy. Videl wondered if he even had blood in his veins.

'That guy is so creepy, he looks like a walking corpse.' Videl said disgusted, while Erasa's fists were shaking.

'Let's go have a walk.' Erasa suggested. 'You won't have to fight Gohan's dad until the finals, so you still have plenty of opportunity to see him fight.'

Videl couldn't really argue with that, and she didn't really want to see fights right now. She was not in the mood.

'How was it to fight your dad actually?' Erasa asked.

'It was terrible, he wasn't nearly as strong as I expected him to be.' Videl said disdainfully. 'I didn't even have to do my best to win.'

'Have you talked with him after your fight?'

'No, I don't want to talk to him, he's a stupid liar.'

'Dads are indeed the worst sometimes.' Erasa agreed. 'Let's never talk to him again.'

'And run away from home, fending for ourselves?' Videl added with a smile. 'I'm sure we could do it.'

'I'm sure we could.' Erasa said excitedly. 'My parents are the worst too, remember last month when I couldn't go on a holiday trip with the band just because they wanted to go to Jingle Village with the family?'

'Yeah, let's run away!' Videl said sarcastically. 'I'm sure my dad wouldn't come looking for me, not to mention your parents, plus running away isn't my style.'

'Maybe you're right.' Erasa said. 'But what do you wanna do if not talk and not run away?'

A bunch of seagulls were making a lot of noise scavenging a trash can, while Videl did not answer.

'Videl, are you still mad at Gohan?'

Videl took a moment to consider an answer.

'I guess, I don't really know.' Videl said. 'It's like there are no more cool fighters left to look up to. My dad's a liar, Gohan's a dork who seems to be ashamed of being good at fighting or something, and Gohan's dad is an idiot who only cares about eating and fighting!'

Erasa suddenly went angry.

'I know right, remember how he looked when Goten got knocked down?!' Erasa exclaimed. 'I mean, Goten barely even survived that, and his dad didn't seem to care at all.' Erasa steadily increased her voice while she continued her rant. 'Gohan's dad was probably also the one who thought it was a good idea to bring Gohan to the Cell Games, seeing as how he doesn't give a little shit about his own kid! Bad parents like that should be locked up!'

'Well, Gohan did beat Cell, so you can't say it was all bad.' Videl replied trying to calm Erasa down, but it only made Erasa angrier.

'He was TEN!' Erasa cried out, snapping at Videl. 'That poor boy was TEN! How can a ten-year-old be stronger than an adult guy who's been fighting his whole life?! He must have been terrified being dragged into that! He was only TEN! That asshole dragged an innocent child into potential death, his own son!'

'Maybe he just doesn't really feel a connection with Goten, if he's been dead since before Goten was born.' Videl offered.

'Don't make excuses for him Videl!' Erasa screamed. 'Just because your dad sucks doesn't mean it's okay for dads to suck! My dad may be harsh but he'd never send me to a place as dangerous as that, and neither would your dad!'

Erasa's face quickly started to become soaked with tears.

'I'm sorry Erasa, I didn't mean it like that!' Videl said quickly, wrapping her arm around Erasa. 'Maybe we should bring Gohan along with us when running away from our asshole parents.' Erasa couldn't help but snigger slightly at that remark through her tears, and they watched the seagulls which were now fighting over a hamburger they found in the trash.

'Two girls and a guy running away from their parents. Sounds like the start of a bad horror movie.' Erasa remarked once she calmed down a bit.

'If some psycho killer comes after us I'll just kick his ass.' Videl said heroically. 'No psycho killer is gonna kill me or my friends!'

'Please just kick his ass when you've got to fight him in the final match.' Erasa said quietly.

'Oh dang, you're right, the Tournament!' Videl exclaimed. She had totally forgotten about it. 'How long have we been here? Is it already my turn again?'

They both looked at a screen nearby. A blonde woman was just about to enter the ring together with a small man with a weird purple skin, pointy ears, and robes Videl had never seen before. It didn't look like it was their turn yet. Where was the schedule? Videl found the schedule map in the corner of the screen. The schedule didn't show the faces, but only the names of the contestants. Judging from which fights were already concluded, it looked like this was the eighth match in the first round. Apparently Goku had won the sixth match against Yamu, in the seventh match someone named Ma-Junior had beaten Spopovitch. In this eight match it was Lazuli fighting Shin, Videl knew neither of them.

'It's almost your turn again, this is the eighth match.' Erasa said quickly, her eyes still teary. 'Better get back to the stadium so you can change.'

'Oh shit, I don't have a fighting gi anymore!' Videl realised.

'What?! But you wore one against your dad!'

'I burnt it, it had the logo of my dad's dojo on it.'

'Oh wow.' Erasa said blankly, wiping her eyes dry. 'Maybe we can buy one here somewhere?'

They quickly went looking for a shop that sold fighting gis. The good news was that they quickly found one, the bad news was that it was on the opposite side of the Tournament area from the stadium. Videl quickly bought one in her size while Erasa watched the fight on a screen outside the store.

'It looks like they're still fighting, but you'd better hurry it up Videl, you've still gotta change.' Erasa said as soon as Videl exited the store.

'You're right, I'm gonna go there right now.' Videl said. 'I think flying is probably the fastest, I'll see you later!'

Videl quickly took off and flew to the stadium, while Erasa watched in awe at Videl's flying skill. It was much faster flying than running after all that training over the last three weeks.

Within a minute or so Videl arrived at the stadium and landed outside. She quickly flashed her ticket to the perplexed security guard while running in and ran to the changing room. If she wasn't in time she would lose by forfeit, what a nightmare that'd be! The voice of the announcer was audible again.

'That's it folks, Shin has surrendered his match with Lazuli! That concludes the eighth match of the first round! It's now time for the quarter final matches! First up, Videl versus the Great Saiyaman! Please come to the ring!'

Videl managed to change into her new gi within half a minute and flew through the hallway to the ring. Landing right outside the hallway she saw her father.

'Hey Videl, where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you.'

'Just had a little walk with Erasa dad. But I've got a match now.' Videl dismissed. She didn't want her issues with her dad distracting her from this match, and she walked into the ring together with Gohan. Gohan wore his Great Saiyaman outfit again, it still looked really goofy. Videl still couldn't decide whether Gohan wore it to make his opponents underestimate him or because he literally thought it looked cool.

'Don't go easy on me, I don't want to win unless I earn it!' Videl said quietly to Gohan.

'I promise.' Gohan said quietly.

'I won't go easy on you too, I won't go down without giving it my all.' Videl said, trying to sound more confident than she was. She wanted to win this, she wasn't going to let this dork beat her, regardless of how much she had learned from him.

'These two fighters already know each other from their heroic deeds in Satan City. But today Videl and the Great Saiyaman are here as opponents. Both of them impressed us in the first round, with Videl defeating previous Champion Mr. Satan without even taking a single hit and the Great Saiyaman defeating Namu. Let us now see how these two heroes stack against each other in the quarter finals of the World Martial Arts Tournament! Let the match begin!'

Videl saw Gohan bow to her, she bowed in return and raised her guard. She concentrated her ki and calmed herself down. Gohan also raised his guard. How should she start out? She had made the first move against her dad, but she wasn't familiar with Gohan's fighting style. Heck, he hardly even fought against Namu. But Gohan also didn't seem too likely to make the first move. As the seconds ticked by, the audience stayed eerily quiet.

'Oh and it looks like we've got ourselves and old-fashioned stalemate.' The referee announced. 'Who will be bold enough to make the first move?!'

Videl was getting impatient. She concentrated her ki and accelerated quickly towards Gohan, going for a low sweeping kick. Gohan jumped to dodge, which Videl anticipated, and she gripped her front feet on the ground and bounced back, going for a powerful chop from behind. But Gohan managed to turn around in mid-air and block her attack. Gohan pushed back with his blocking arm, but Videl quickly followed up with a series of other attacks while still in mid-air. Gohan was startled by Videl's assault, and despite managing to block several attacks he was forced back by a powerful kick to the stomach. He landed on his hands and flipped back, landing on his feet again. Videl landed opposite to Gohan.

'If Videl thinks that kick was sufficient to bring the Great Saiyaman down she's in for a rough awakening!' The announcer exclaimed. 'The Great Saiyaman blocked a fast series of mid-air assaults and took seemingly no damage from Videl's kick! How will Videl deal with this?!'

The audience cheered enthusiastically, and Videl and Gohan both raised their guards. This was going to be difficult. Gohan's balance in the air was impressive, and while she had been a lot faster than her father, it looked like Gohan had no trouble keeping up with her so far. But she wasn't going to give up that easily, she hadn't even taken a single hit.

Videl charged in again, running towards Gohan as fast as she could, aiming her right-handed punch at his head. Gohan blocked the punch with his left hand and tried to deflect it. Instinctively, Videl forced herself to go along with his deflection, using the combined momentum to flip. She landed on her right hand and gripped on the ring, swinging her feet upwards. Concentrating her ki, she went for a series of rolling kicks, using her ki and her hands to maintain balance and build up angular momentum. Gohan was taken by surprise again, and Gohan was hit repeatedly on the sides of his abdomen by Videl's kicks. But Gohan managed to grab Videl's foot and jumped, going for a toss. Videl couldn't reach Gohan well enough with her hands to stop him, she was too short! Videl found herself approaching the ring fast, head-first. Using her ki, she managed to flip herself around and land on her feet, while simultaneously slowing down her descent. As Videl crashed on her feet, she felt the front of her left foot moving too much upwards and her tibia painfully carrying the load of her landing. But she was still standing.

'Incredible!' The announcer exclaimed. 'What an incredible attack by Videl, she can fight upside down too, and she managed to land on her feet after that throw by the Great Saiyaman!'

Gohan landed again while the audience cheered both of them on. _Okay Videl, calm down and think of a plan. Charging in head-first doesn't work. He must have taken some damage from my kicks so far, but I don't want to make more of those landings. How much damage did I take from that one?_

Videl moved her feet. Her left foot was painfully protesting but it seemed to be functioning fine. Gohan meanwhile still didn't look like he was planning on taking the initiative. She'd have to try harder and go all-out to win this. Videl concentrated her ki and started to hover slightly above the ground. She used her ki to fly as fast as she could around the ring. She bounced repeatedly on her feet to quickly change direction, concentrating more and more of her ki into her speed. How fast was she going now? She'd never moved this fast before without her airplane. Her foot protested more severely every bounce while she felt a trace of fatigue signalling she was using too much ki.

'Ladies and gentlemen, can you believe the speed of Videl?' The announcer exclaimed, while the audience went crazy. 'Can the Great Saiyaman keep his guard up against this speed?!'

Videl decided she was going fast enough and approached Gohan from his back. Videl went for a kick to his head with her right foot, putting all of the power she had into it. But Gohan had sensed her approach and jumped, flying forwards quickly. Videl accelerated further, she was faster than he was, and Gohan was quickly approaching the edge of the ring. _He's stuck now!_

As Videl almost made contact, she sensed a large portion of Gohan's ki moving upwards, while a remnant was still there, as well as what looked like Gohan. Videl's kick moved right through Gohan's image, and she sensed Gohan's ki coming diagonally from above and behind her. Instinctively, Videl ducked in mid-air to dodge Gohan's attack and grabbed Gohan's foot coming from behind. She used his momentum for a throw, putting all of her force into that. Videl was thrown backwards and upwards by the force of her throw, and she saw Gohan fly over the edge of the ring. _Now!_ Videl concentrated as much of her ki into her hands as she could, keeping them pointed at Gohan, ignoring her rapidly increasing fatigue. Videl forced more and more ki out and saw a bright white ball form in her hands that went straight for Gohan. She saw Gohan turn around in the air, so close to a ring-out, and notice her approaching energy attack, but then everything went blurry in front of Videl's eyes and she saw no more.


	15. Awakening

As Videl woke up she noticed she lay in a bed, and heard a familiar voice.

'Hey Videl, you're awake!'

Videl tried to get up to look around and noticed her entire body ached, but she soon found the source of the voice; it was Erasa.

'Hey Erasa.' Videl said weakly.

'How're you feeling?' Erasa asked concerned.

'Everything hurts.' Videl replied. 'What happened?'

'You fainted in your battle and hit the ring pretty hard on your shoulder.' Erasa said. 'You've been unconscious for like ten minutes, so you were brought in here.' Erasa's face darkened a bit. 'But they haven't found a cause of you losing consciousness, apart from small injuries to your leg, foot, and shoulder they didn't find anything.'

'What happened with the fight?' Videl asked. 'The last thing I remember was firing an energy blast at Gohan, he was almost out.' Videl paused and groaned. 'Did I lose?'

Erasa studied Videl for a moment.

'They're not sure yet if he touched outside of the ring, and if so, whether that happened before or after you lost consciousness.' Erasa said. 'Apparently some video judges are studying that now.'

That was the worst answer possible. Powerlessly lying in bed not knowing what had come of her fight.

'So what happened there Videl?' Erasa asked curiously. 'At the end of the fight your body started glowing all around you, it was crazy! And then you fired that blast and then that glow disappeared and you just, fell down. It was so weird. And before that, you were SO fast it was amazing! And the way you countered when Gohan came from behind!'

Videl took a while to answer as the pain slowly started to lessen.

'I think I used too much ki at once.' Videl concluded. 'I was just so pumped up, I think my body couldn't keep up.'

'Gohan mentioned something like that as well, but I really don't know what that means.' Erasa said. 'Oh yeah, he went to get some food, he said you might be hungry.'

Videl just realised something else.

'Where's my dad? Did he not even come here to see how I was doing?'

'He's out there.' Erasa motioned to the door. 'He's stopping all reporters and media guys that wanted to interview you. He let me through because he knows me.'

Videl was secretly glad that her father did that, although a part of her wished that he'd done some jerk action instead, it would have been so much easier to condemn him. Videl listened to noise in the background that was unmistakably a fight taking place in the stadium, although she had no idea what was happening.

'So, tell me about that ki, what happened out there?' Erasa tried to break the awkwardness, when Videl heard knocking sounds from the door. Erasa opened the door.

'Hey Gohan.' Erasa said. 'That smells nice, what'd you get?'

Gohan entered in his normal clothes, Videl was glad it was not the ridiculous Saiyaman outfit.

'Hey Videl, how are you feeling now?' Gohan asked concerned, placing a bunch of sandwiches on the table next to her bed, when Videl realised she was indeed really hungry. How did Gohan know that?

'It's alright, I'll recover.' Videl said confidently. 'Have you already heard anything on who won?'

'No, not yet.' Gohan answered. 'But you fought amazingly well Videl, I never expected you to be so strong!'

'I still passed out at the end though.' Videl replied harshly. 'I couldn't keep it up.'

'What's up with that, why did Videl suddenly pass out?' Erasa asked Gohan. 'You said something about energy or something?'

'Well uhmm, you see, everyone produces a bit of ki to stay alive. You know what ki is?' Gohan started, and Erasa nodded.

'That's the glowing energy stuff that makes you fly right?'

'Among others yes. But if you use too much ki in a short period of time, you will grow fatigued and eventually lose consciousness, it's basically a natural defence to prevent you from killing yourself by overusing your ki, because you always need a bit of ki to sustain your life.'

'What?! Videl could have killed herself?!' Erasa screamed out, causing Gohan to flinch.

'No, no, no, long before that happens you lose consciousness and you can't use up more ki while unconscious, you'll regain consciousness once the body has recovered its ki reserves.'

'Well then why didn't you pass out?' Erasa asked sceptically while Videl took a sandwich. She was really hungry.

'Well uhmm, I have trained for far longer in using my ki than Videl.' Gohan answered. 'With practice, you'll be able to recover ki faster and use more ki, but that takes training.' Gohan then focused on Videl. 'I'm already amazed at how long you actually lasted at that energy output, I never would have imagined your progress to be so huge in only three weeks.'

Videl replied with her mouth full, although neither Gohan nor Erasa seemed able to decipher her language.

'Hey Gohan, how long will it take Videl to recover from this ki overuse thing?' Erasa asked.

Gohan studied Videl for a moment when Mr. Satan came in.

'Hey Videl, you're awake! That's great!' Mr. Satan said cheerfully, and he then noticed Gohan in the room.

'Who the hell are you, what are you doing here?! My daughter needs her rest to recover you know!'

Gohan flinched and fidgeted nervously with his hands again.

'Well uhmm…' Gohan started, when Videl intervened.

'Dad, this is Son Gohan, he's a friend of mine from school.'

Mr. Satan didn't just accept that so easily.

'Well, if he's a friend of yours why don't I know him?'

'I don't have to tell you everything dad!' Videl said forcefully. 'It's not like you tell me everything!'

'Well, I'm not having it. You need your rest!' Mr. Satan dismissed, ignoring Videl's last comment. 'That's why I also kept all those reporters away.' He then turned to Gohan. 'Speaking of which, how the hell did you get in here?!'

'Well uhmm… I kinda just, went here.' Gohan said hesitantly. Mr. Satan was starting to get annoyed.

'Don't take me for a fool boy!' Mr. Satan said harshly. 'Who do you think you're talking to?! Now get lost or I'll take you out by force!'

'Excuse me, but you just didn't see Gohan because you were busy with those reporters.' Erasa tried to explain.

'I guess I'd better go.' Gohan said shyly, and walked towards the door.

'Wait Gohan! I don't want you to go!' Videl said. She didn't want her father deciding who was allowed in and who wasn't.

'Videl! What did I tell you?!'

'I can decide for myself who can visit me! You have no right to tell Gohan off like that!' Videl commanded, while Gohan was still acting nervously.

'I have every …' Mr. Satan started.

'Shut up and listen dad!' Videl felt all of her anger with her father starting to surface again. 'Erasa, close the door, and Gohan, stay here!' Erasa quickly closed the door, and Videl glared fiercely at her father.

'You owe your life to Gohan, he's the one who saved us all from Cell back then. You lied to us all!' Videl's voice turned even fiercer, while her father's attempts to reply were rendered completely futile by her. 'You lied to me, and I'm your daughter! You! You! You're nothing but a fraud! The battles today were the proof! I beat you without even breaking a sweat and I couldn't beat Gohan at all! I, I, I don't ever wanna see you again! You're just a fraud and now you're telling Gohan to get lost! I'm not having it! You get lost yourself! I don't ever wanna see you again!'

Mr. Satan stared at her, unable to usher a word, and Videl turned her attention at Gohan.

'Gohan, do that golden hair thing to prove it, the Goldfighter thing!' Videl commanded.

Gohan seemed hesitant and extremely uncomfortable with the situation. Videl was staring at him angrily, while her father was also staring, but with a trace of fear in his face. Erasa walked up to Gohan and put her arm around him. She started talking to him.

'Hey Gohan, none of this is your fault,' she said softly. 'Remember we don't have to tell anyone else about this.'

'Gohan…' Videl insisted fiercely.

Gohan looked like he had made a decision. He stood back up, and clenched his fists. It looked like he concentrated on something Videl could not see, and then it happened. The blankets on the bed started to move, and Videl felt a gust of wind going through the room. Gohan's hair moved upwards as if he was in one of those vertical wind tunnels where people practiced sky-diving, and its colour changed to a glowing gold. And that was not all, Gohan suddenly had a golden glow all around his body, and Videl sensed that Gohan's ki output had suddenly skyrocketed. It wasn't as much as she sensed from Goten earlier in his fight, but still a lot more than she had ever put out. Then Gohan's ki calmed down again and the glow faded everywhere except for his hair. Erasa was staring in awe, her mouth wide open at Gohan's transformation, while Mr. Satan looked frightened. When Videl turned her eyes back to Gohan and studied him more closely, she noticed Gohan's eyes had changed from their usual dark brown into a more greenish turquoise colour.

'What the…' Mr. Satan stammered. 'Are you that little kid from the Cell Games? How the hell did you do that?'

'Wow Gohan, looking good!' Erasa said cheerfully. 'How did your hair suddenly move upwards?'

Gohan blushed a bit at Erasa's compliment.

'Well uhmm, when I'm in this state my body uses a lot more energy, and that energy radiated out of my body pushes my hair up.' Gohan replied shyly.

'Can you teach me how to do that too?' Erasa asked curiously. 'I'm already blonde, what would my hair turn into?'

'Enough about that!' Videl commanded. Erasa's curiosity could wait for later. 'Dad, admit it, you weren't the one who defeated Cell!'

Mr. Satan looked from Videl's determined face back to Gohan and back to Videl, seemingly thinking hard. Eventually he broke down and collapsed on his knees.

'Alright, alright, I admit it.' Mr. Satan said quietly, staring at the ground. 'I never stood a chance against Cell back then. He knocked me out of the ring like I was nothing! And after Cell was gone all those other people left without saying who they were. Nobody had a clue what happened, and I said I did it when those news guys were pressuring me for answers. Before I knew it, I was world-famous and invited to every show around, I couldn't back out of it anymore.'

'So Gohan was the one to defeat Cell?' Videl pressed on mercilessly. She wanted him to say it.

Mr. Satan looked back at Gohan, who was still in that mysterious Goldfighter state.

'I don't know Videl.' Mr. Satan admitted, quickly looking back at the ground. 'I recognise him from back then, but when they fought we had to seek cover. It was crazy, everything was shaking, rocks were flying through the air; I never saw exactly what happened. They were flying and throwing weird exploding light balls at each other, it was crazy, I had never seen anything like it before.'

Mr. Satan looked back at Videl, while Gohan turned back to his black-haired self.

'Your fights today actually reminded me of back then, you were fighting similar to them.' Mr. Satan said quietly. 'I noticed it when I fought you, you moved in the air like those guys did.'

Videl did not reply, but crossed her arms stubbornly.

'I didn't even ask yet how you are doing now Videl.' Mr. Satan said.

'I'm fine dad, I just used a bit too much energy.' Videl dismissed, and she turned her attention back to Gohan. 'How long did you say it'll take for me to recover?'

'It varies from person to person, although from sensing your ki I'd say it shouldn't take much longer.' Gohan said. 'I think you're already fine to walk around without a problem, just give your ki a bit of rest, maybe half an hour more or so.'

 _I can already walk?!_

'Why didn't you tell me sooner?!' Videl exclaimed. 'Let's go back to the ring and watch the fights, why wait around here?!' She quickly hopped out of bed, landing on her injured foot which protested a bit.

'Isn't your foot still injured Videl?' Erasa asked worried.

'It's fine, I can handle this.' Videl said. She didn't want to appear weak to her father or to Gohan.

'Maybe you shouldn't have overloaded it that much during the fight.' Gohan said. 'You were loading it pretty heavily during that final charge of yours.'

 _Stop treating me like a little kid!_

Videl marched on stubbornly with Erasa, Gohan, and Mr. Satan trailing behind. A bit of pain had never stopped her and it wouldn't stop her today.

'Well, I had to pick up speed to attack you didn't I?' She turned around and faced her father. 'Don't follow me! Didn't I tell you to get lost?!'

Mr. Satan froze in place, staring at Videl completely lost for words, but Videl didn't care for him, she turned her attention back to Gohan while they walked on, leaving Mr. Satan behind while Gohan walked along very nervously.

'I needed that speed to attack you from behind, so don't tell me I was overdoing it.' Videl told him. 'If I went slower you would have easily countered. Even at this speed you managed to dodge it.'

'Well uhmm, I mean that you were putting all that acceleration force through your feet during your attack.'

Videl had no idea what Gohan meant, and neither did Erasa.

'What do you mean Gohan?' Erasa asked friendly.

'Well uhmm, how do I explain this?' Gohan hesitated and thought for a few moments.

'Well, to change your direction, you've got to apply a force to your body.' Gohan started. 'You've got to push yourself the other way. Videl did that with her feet when she was bouncing around, and that caused her foot to get hurt.'

'But Videl isn't that big.' Erasa said. 'So it shouldn't take her that much force should it? And Videl is really strong.'

'Well, Videl being lightweight indeed helps a lot Erasa.' Gohan explained. 'But I don't know if you saw how fast Videl was going. At such speeds the force is still quite big even if you're small.'

Videl was getting impatient, she already knew these things from the martial arts lessons in balance.

'So what are you saying I should have done?' Videl demanded. 'I can't really make myself lighter during a match and I can't go slower.'

'I don't mean reduce the overall force.' Gohan explained. 'I mean distribute it differently.'

'How? By bouncing on two legs?' Videl asked sarcastically.

'No, I mean use your ki to apply the force instead of your legs.' Gohan said, oblivious to her sarcasm. 'Seeing how much ki you could control during your fight you can move around much faster, you've just got to use it more efficiently.'

'What do you mean Gohan?' Videl asked. 'Just tell me already instead of being so vague all the time! Use my ki more efficiently, I tried accelerating fast with ki during my training but then I still feel heavy forces in my body.'

'You've got to distribute the force that your ki applies better.' Gohan replied patiently. 'Up until now you've always accelerated your ki from the centre of your body. If you do that you'll push yourself from there, and that part of your body has to drag the rest along. If you distribute your ki throughout your entire body, and then accelerate it from everywhere uniformly, your body won't have to drag along separate parts and you can go much faster.'

'Why didn't you tell me any of this when you taught me how to fly?!' Videl asked.

'Well uhmm, I never expected you to advance this quickly.' Gohan hesitated. 'Distributing your ki like that and controlling that all is a lot more difficult, you need to have very good ki control for it, and it takes a lot of practice to get the distribution right.'

'I don't get it.' Erasa said. 'But I think that's because I don't really get this ki stuff.'

'You need to distribute your ki not just among your limbs, denser parts of your body need more ki than lighter parts.' Gohan explained. 'The more ki you use, the more force you apply there, and you need to get all of your body parts accelerating at pretty much the same pace, otherwise the faster parts will pull on the slower parts.'

'So if you do that, how fast can you accelerate?' Videl asked. She wasn't going to let any detail slip away this time.

'It depends on how much ki you can control, and how well.' Gohan said. 'If you can accelerate pretty much every cell individually at the same pace you won't load your body much at all, I don't know if there's really an acceleration limit as long as your body can replenish the ki. I think the main limits are in speed, not acceleration.'

Erasa was confused.

'What's the difference between speed and acceleration?'

'Well, speed is how fast you're going.' Gohan said. 'And acceleration is how quickly you can change your speed or the direction in which you are going. Like a heavy train that can go very fast, but it takes a long time before it actually goes that fast, so its acceleration is low. But an airplane takes much less time before it can go fast, so it has a high acceleration.'

'So acceleration is about how long it takes before you go fast?' Erasa concluded.

'That's right.'

'So you can only go fast if you distribute the ki force over your entire body, then your body won't feel the speed so much?' Erasa tried to summarise.

'No, you've got it mixed up.' Videl said. 'The forces that you do cause accelerations. If you want high accelerations you've got to distribute the ki better. If you just want to go fast you can also accelerate slower with less force, but it takes longer before you go fast.'

'But then why did Gohan say the limits are on speed?' Erasa asked.

'Well uhmm, in the beginning the limits are on acceleration, until you've become so good at ki that you can distribute that force very well.' Gohan tried to explain again. 'Once you are very good at ki you can start accelerating really fast. But then at some point you can go so fast that the wind moving past you becomes very powerful and dangerous, and that will limit how fast you can actually go. You can eventually just reach those speeds very quickly.'

'I guess I get it now.' Erasa said. But then they noticed two men standing in the hallway up ahead, right around the corner to where the ring was, and they were having an intimate discussion they clearly didn't want to have overheard. When Videl looked better she recognised the smaller one as the pale creep that Gohan's dad had been fighting, what was his name again? The larger man was just as pale and creepy, and both men smelled so foul Videl, Gohan, and Erasa could all clearly smell them despite standing over fifteen metres away.

'Eww, it's those zombie creeps.' Erasa whispered silently to Videl so that only she and Gohan could hear.

'They're indeed creepy.' Gohan agreed. 'The way they fought was also really creepy remember?'

'What do you mean?' Videl asked. 'I missed those fights.'

'Well, my father had to fight the shorter guy and he just wouldn't get knocked out.' Gohan whispered. 'He took really hard hits but it looked like it didn't really damage him for some reason, he just kept getting back up. Eventually my father threw him out of the ring to win the match. I've got no idea how the creep did that.'

'Wow.' Erasa whispered. 'I think they really are zombies then, well, not like your dad but, you know, your dad looks more alive than those creeps.'

Videl let her curiosity get the better of her, and she snuck in closer to eavesdrop. The stench was unbearable when standing so close and Videl had to use all of her willpower not to throw up in the hallway. Why had she eaten so many of Gohan's sandwiches?

'Yeah those two are strong, but not nearly strong enough.' The smaller one said.

'I know, but at least it's better than nothing. We don't have anything yet.'

'Listen moron, we've got to wait for the right opportunity.' The smaller one said annoyed. 'If we expose ourselves too early we won't get another opportunity, I think a lot of guys here haven't even shown half of what they're capable of. We've only got one shot and we've gotta make sure it counts.'

The larger one then noticed Videl.

'Hey, what are you doing here, eavesdropping on us?!'

 _Fuck, busted!_

'We were just uhmm, having a walk around.' Erasa quickly said while running to Videl.

'You're not a fighter, you're not supposed to be around here! This area is for fighters only!' The larger one said, glaring threateningly at Erasa. 'Now get lost or I'll throw you out myself!'

Videl stepped up, nobody talked to her best friend like that while she was around!

'Listen you creep.' Videl said threateningly. 'Talk to my friends like that one more time and you won't ever talk again!'

The smaller creep grabbed the larger one and took him away, without a single look at Videl, Gohan, or Erasa.

'Dammit moron, don't act so aggressively, do you wanna get us kicked out?!'

Erasa stared after them, still shaking after the larger creep's threat.

'What the hell was wrong with them?' Erasa asked. 'And what was all that about?'

Gohan was also looking at the two creeps quickly walking off.

'I've got no idea.'


	16. Ring Destruction

Krillin watched Gohan get surprised by Videl's counter, he got thrown and Videl quickly followed with an energy attack. Gohan turned around and bounced Videl's energy attack into the sky, but his Saiyaman cape swung downwards, and his foot also came awfully close to the ground.

'Was that a ring-out?!' The referee exclaimed. Apparently he wasn't sure either. 'I'm not sure, wait, Videl is falling!'

Videl was indeed falling, seemingly without any control, and she came down hard on her shoulder.

'It looks like Videl is down! One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! That's it ladies and gentlemen.'

Gohan hurried to Videl and checked her, and he was quickly joined by a paramedic. The paramedic stood back up and called in a stretcher, then proceeded to discuss Videl's condition with the referee. The stretcher came, and Gohan helped them to load Videl on it and they carried her away. The referee proceeded to discuss the situation with some other tournament officials. After a few minutes of discussing, the other officials left and the main referee addressed the audience.

'Alright ladies and gentlemen, first things first: Videl is unconscious but seemingly uninjured, it is expected that she will recover just fine. Secondly, after a bit of discussion it has been decided that we will wait for our video judges to see whether the Great Saiyaman touched outside the ring or not, and if he did, whether that happened before or after Videl went down. Because of this uncertainty, we cannot declare a winner for this fight just yet, but I promise to keep you all posted. In the meantime, let us continue with the next quarter-final fight: it is Tenshinhan versus Krillin! Tenshinhan and Krillin, please come to the ring!'

'Let's go Krillin!' Tenshinhan said eagerly. They both quickly entered the ring, bowed, and waited for the referee to start the match.

'Both of these fighters have proven their skill and strength very well in the first round with Tenshinhan's one-chop knockout against Jules and Krillin's skilled victory over fearsome foe Kibito. Krillin and Tenshinhan both also fought several times in the World Martial Arts Tournament, and neither of them has ever lost here against a fighter that did not make it all the way to the finals! Despite both fighters appearing several times in the past in the World Martial Arts Tournament, coincidentally they have never directly fought each other here, until today! Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, it is Tenshinhan versus Krillin! Let the match begin!'

Krillin quickly raised his guard, which urged Tenshinhan to go for the offensive. Tenshinhan quickly approached him low to the ground and tried for a low sweeping attack. Krillin quickly jumped into the sky to dodge. He looked down at his opponent and held his hands next to his eyes, open towards Tenshinhan, who looked up with his three eyes to see Krillin.

'Taio-Ken!'

A blinding flash erupted from Krillin's hands, blinding Tenshinhan. Krillin flew down quickly behind his opponent and went for a power kick to his back. But Tenshinhan turned around and caught Krillin's foot. Tenshinhan flew up and threw Krillin down hard. Krillin fell down at high speed, but managed to turn around in mid-air and land hard enough on his feet to make the ring tiles crack. Tenshinhan landed opposite to Krillin in the ring.

'Nice try Krillin, but you'll have to do much better to catch me off-guard.' Tenshinhan said, already fully recovered from the blinding effect, and he proceeded to attack again. Krillin used his small size to dodge Tenshinhan's assault, but Tenshinhan was fast. Krillin ducked underneath Tenshinhan's punch and launched a close-range energy attack against his opponent's torso. Tenshinhan was blown back, but managed to flip on his hands and back on his feet. Tenshinhan wasted no time and bounced into the sky. Krillin did not feel like getting surprised from above and chased after him, while charging ki into his hands.

'Ka-me-ha…' Krillin focused more energy into his hands. Tenshinhan wasn't far away anymore.

'Me-ha!' Krillin pointed his hands straight up at his opponent, and the blueish Kamehameha wave erupted. Krillin didn't make his Kamehameha last too long and quickly moved sideways and up, careful to leave his after-image behind.

Tenshinhan in the meantime charged his ki into his arm and sliced through Krillin's Kamehameha wave. After slicing through it, he saw Krillin's after-image and noted it was an image. It was already too late, Krillin came from above before Tenshinhan could react.

Tenshinhan took a direct hit and approached the ground next to the ring fast. He released a large amount of ki downwards purely to slow his descent down in a wide energy wave. The energy wave scorched the ground and blackened the edge of the ring, while Tenshinhan managed to stop his descent about two metres above the ground. Krillin wasn't done yet though, and had followed up with a second Kamehameha attack from above. Tenshinhan was forced to launch his own energy attack quickly, blocking Krillin's attack. Krillin's attack slowly grew in strength, having had little time to prepare, and so did Tenshinhan's.

Krillin noticed Tenshinhan was starting to push his attack back despite Krillin's gravity advantage. Krillin stopped his attack, dodged Tenshinhan's wave, and landed back in the ring, while Tenshinhan also floated back into the ring, landing opposite to Krillin.

'What a fight ladies and gentlemen!' The announcer screamed. 'What a fight! Krillin managed to catch Tenshinhan off-guard and almost managed to cause a ring-out, but Tenshinhan showed us he will not lose that easily!'

'Already trying to end this Krillin?' Tenshinhan asked. 'I can't blame you, I'm not so easy to defeat.'

'That may not have worked, but I did manage to catch you off-guard.' Krillin replied. 'But prepare for this next one.'

Krillin bended through his knees and touched the ring with his hands in a frog-like position. Tenshinhan raised his eyebrows and put up his guard, curious to what Krillin was planning.

'Oh, it looks like Krillin has a new technique!' The announcer exclaimed. 'I've never seen a technique like this before!'

Krillin focused his ki through his hands, forcing it into the ground under the ring, where he collected it. The ring started cracking and tearing, and the ground started shaking. The referee almost lost his sunglasses due to the shaking. He managed to catch them and looked frightened to the tearing ring.

'Dammit, we can probably throw this ring away after this!' He accidentally blurted out through his microphone.

Krillin ignored the referee's scolding at him wrecking the ring, there was no rule against ring damage after all. He just had to make sure to keep the damage local to the ring and not endanger the audience. He focused more of his ki into the shaking ground, concentrating it there, similar to how he concentrated it in the sky in his first battle. Tenshinhan was looking curiously to Krillin's technique, wanting to see it play out. Krillin stood back up once he had stored enough ki.

'You've got very good eyesight, but can you see these coming?' Krillin remarked, and a portion of ki shot up right from underneath Tenshinhan, hitting him on his chin, while the ring debris released hit his legs. Tenshinhan wasn't out yet, and quickly flew up into the sky, while the ground continued to shake due to the large reservoir of ki remaining underground.

Tenshinhan concentrated his ki and launched his own energy wave down at Krillin, who seemingly did not respond – it was an after-image again! Tenshinhan realised what Krillin was up to, but too late. Krillin appeared from behind and knocked his opponent down to the centre of the shaking ring. He then quickly concentrated the ki from below and pulled it up and around Tenshinhan. Tenshinhan stood up, and saw energy attacks coming from every direction towards him.

A big explosion ensued from Krillin's energy attack hitting Tenshinhan from all sides. As the dust cleared, the centre of the ring was torn apart and the soil beneath it was visible; the explosion had blasted a big hole in the ring. Tenshinhan was lying on the soil where the ring once was, while there were holes and tears all over the ring where ki had come up from the ground.

'The ring may be destroyed, but Tenshinhan is still within bounds!' The referee announced. 'But it looks like he is down! One, two, three, four, no wait, he's standing up again!' Tenshinhan indeed stood back up. He was breathing hard, as was Krillin.

'Can you believe the strength of these fighters?!' The referee screamed. 'What an amazing endurance! Tenshinhan stood back up after taking Krillin's ridiculously powerful energy attack head-on! Just look at the damage to the ring, this is some real power being thrown around here!'

After catching his breath, Tenshinhan went on the offensive. He flew up to Krillin, going for a strong right-hand punch. Krillin managed to dodge but Tenshinhan was not done yet. Tenshinhan continued his assault with rapid punches in mid-air, not letting Krillin escape. He knocked Krillin down to the ring and quickly descended to continue his assault. Krillin bounced back up and quickly bounced around the ring, closely followed by Tenshinhan. While flying away from Tenshinhan, Krillin aimed his energy attacks back and somewhat down below Tenshinhan, hitting remainders of the ring. The blasts kicked up debris and ring pieces against Tenshinhan, which startled him. While his opponent was startled, Krillin retaliated with a powerful kick to Tenshinhan's torso. Tenshinhan was forced back by the powerful attack but flew up, avoiding a ring-out. He descended quickly, going for a frontal aerial attack. Krillin prepared his counter and kicked upwards, only to move right through Tenshinhan's attacking image. As Krillin was surprised by Tenshinhan's moving Zanzouken technique, Tenshinhan used a powerful force palm to attack from behind with speed. Tenshinhan pushed Krillin out of the ring towards the boarding. Krillin tried to grab Tenshinhan's arm but he was too short to reach well behind him, and he crashed into what was left of the boarding.

'That's a ring-out!' The referee declared. 'After that relentless assault by Tenshinhan Krillin just could not escape and was forced out! The winner is Tenshinhan! Tenshinhan re-affirms himself as an extremely powerful fighter and is the first competitor to make it to the final four! And ladies and gentlemen, let's not forget the talent displayed by Krillin, who managed to give us all a very good match!'

The audience applauded for Tenshinhan and Krillin, while Krillin stood back up and floated back to Tenshinhan and what remained of a destroyed ring, and they shook hands.

'Next up is Vegeta versus Son Goku!' The referee announced.

Upon hearing that Goku quickly ran into the area where a ring once stood, eager to fight.

'Uhmm, Goku, your fight isn't starting yet.' The referee said through his microphone, causing laughter from the audience. 'We can't use this ring anymore, so we have to make place for a new one before we can start your match.'

'Aww come on, I can fight just fine on this ground too.' Goku argued.

'No, we can't. We need a good ring, that's the rules, so first we'll remove all the debris from out there.'

Tournament staff appeared and quickly started to collect debris from the ring area.

'Oh alright then. I'll help too!' Goku decided simply. He started collecting debris into his hands, and before long he was carrying an unstable amount of debris. Goku carried the swaying tower of ring pieces and stone in his hands, and walked to the side where it was all collected.

As the referee was looking in awe at Goku's unusual method of clearing up the ring area, Videl, Gohan, and Erasa arrived, with Gohan back in his Saiyaman outfit. Videl approached the referee.

'Excuse me, what's going on?'

'Hey Miss Videl, good to see you're alright after your fight.' The referee replied. 'The last fight left the ring destroyed, so we're cleaning up the remains to make space for a new one.'

'Holy shit they destroyed the ring?!' Erasa asked out loud, causing the referee to notice her.

'Excuse me, but who are you exactly?' The referee asked Erasa. 'Only competitors are allowed in this area.'

'She's a good friend of me, she won't do any harm. She just visited me when I was recovering.' Videl quickly said.

'Well alright then I guess. To answer your question, yes they destroyed the ring. It was a very fierce fight and when two very strong fighters collide like that it can cause some collateral damage, but they were precise enough to never endanger the audience so it's allowed.'

'It sounds like you have worked here for a long time haven't you?' Videl asked.

'As a matter of fact I have yes, I have worked as a referee and announcer at the World Martial Arts Tournament for the last thirty years! I have seen some crazy fights over that time.'

He looked back to Goku, who was balancing an even larger stack of debris in his hands now, it looked at least five metres high and was swaying around a lot. The fact that Goku's tower didn't collapse looked even more unnatural than his weird halo.

'This edition turns out to be the most exciting one I've seen in a long time.' The referee mentioned. 'Not only do we have all these old fighters like Son Goku, Krillin, and Tenshinhan returning, we also have a lot of new fighters of immense talent, like you and the Great Saiyaman. I don't think we've ever had such a large group of talent before, this is going to be great for the ratings.'

'Can I ask you about the fighter that Son Goku fought in the first round?' Videl asked casually. 'Do you know anything about him?'

'Yamu entered the previous edition as well, when you were still in the Junior Division.' The referee replied. 'He was eliminated in the first round back then, he wasn't particularly impressive. But this time he seems to have improved his endurance immensely, he could keep on going after several powerful blows. He still lost though, he hadn't improved nearly as much on his technique, speed, or power.'

'Do you know how he improved his endurance so much?'

'I've got no idea, sorry. Most fighters keep their training methods classified.' He then looked closer at Videl. 'But what does it concern you? He is already eliminated.'

'We saw him and the man fighting after him acting suspiciously when walking back here.' Gohan said quickly.

'You mean Ma-Junior?'

'No, the pale one.'

'Oh, you mean Spopovitch. Well, I've got no idea what those two could be up to, they're both already out.' The referee replied, and he then looked at Videl and Gohan. 'I know you two are into fighting criminals, and from what I hear you two are also very good at that, but wouldn't it be wiser for you two to focus on the Tournament? You don't want to get distracted, especially with competition as strong as this.' And he motioned to Goku, who was approaching them now.

'Hey Videl, good to see you're back up, your fight was great!' Goku said to Videl.

'Uhmm, thanks I guess?' Videl replied while Goku had already turned his attention to the referee. 'All the stones are gone, can we start our fight now?'

'Not yet, we still need to level the ground before we can place the new ring.' The referee replied.

'What does that mean?'

'Oh, well, I mean, make the ground flat.'

'Oh, I can do that.' Goku said. He quickly went levelling the ground with his hands, while the Tournament staff were still fetching tools to do the same job. The referee stared at him go for a few moments before returning his attention to Videl, Erasa, and Gohan.

'A rather unique man isn't he? Hasn't changed one bit since he first competed here as a little boy. Anyway, if you have anything concrete on Yamu and Spopovitch you can tell me, I'll have some guys from security keep an eye on them, but you two should focus on your own fights. We don't know yet who actually won between you two, so you should both be ready.'

Videl noticed the tall green man she had seen earlier during the qualifications approach her group. He wore blue clothes underneath a white cape and a white turban, and his nails were very sharp, like claws.

'Hey Gohan, what did you mean when you said suspicious behaviour?'

 _He heard that?_

'They were really creepy.' Erasa said immediately. 'Talking about having only one shot for something, I don't know what they were talking about. And they were also really hostile. And they smell terrible, I'm sure they're zombies or something.'

'Okay.' The green man replied, and he glanced to the other side of the ring, where Yamu and Spopovitch were, looking at Goku going through the soil like a tractor on rocket fuel. Videl hadn't noticed them earlier. 'They're definitely up to something, but I think it'd be best we'll let it play out to see what it is, they haven't really done anything wrong yet.' He then looked at Goku, and glanced to Vegeta who was standing in the corner. 'By the way Gohan, stand-by to interfere if those two start ramping it up. I can see this getting ugly.'

'Excuse me, but who are you?' Videl asked more hostile than she intended. The green man ignored her.

'This is Piccolo, he was my very first teacher in martial arts.' Gohan said quickly. 'He's entering under the name Ma-Junior.'

 _What? I thought his dad taught him!_

Goku came back for a third time. He had already levelled the entire area. How did that happen so quickly?

'Alright, the ground is now flat, what's next?'

'Wow, you're really fast Goku.' The referee said impressed. 'Now just stand back everyone.'

He took a capsule out of his pocket and threw it onto the levelled ground, where it uncapsuled into a new ring, indistinguishable from the old one. The referee grabbed his microphone and addressed the audience.

'Ladies and gentlemen, it is finally time for our next battle, it is Vegeta versus Son Goku! After the previous ring was destroyed we are now using our first backup ring! Don't worry folks, we've got a few more, no ring destruction is stopping this World Martial Arts Tournament from happening! So let's welcome Vegeta and Son Goku to the ring!'

Vegeta appeared from a corner and entered the ring that Goku had already hopped in.

Before Videl could ask further about Piccolo, another man appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He was short with white hair and had a purple skin, Videl hadn't seen him before.

'I agree Piccolo, Goku and Vegeta will most likely ramp it up.' He said. 'I must ask you not to interfere if Spopovitch and Yamu make their move however.'

Videl did not appreciate that tone, and she was also getting sick of people eavesdropping on her.

'Hey, don't you know it's rude to sneak up and eavesdrop on people like that? Who are you anyway, telling me what to do?'

Piccolo quickly turned his attention to Videl with a look of disdain, but did not say anything.

'Forgive me my rudeness.' The short purple man said. 'You can call me Shin, which is short for Kaio-shin. I am here to see in detail what Yamu and Spopovitch are up to. To do that I ask you not to interfere.'

Gohan seemed confused.

'But if they might hurt people I don't want to let them just do that.'

'Gohan!' Piccolo said quickly. 'Listen to him, you can trust him.'

Gohan seemed to accept Piccolo's explanation, while Videl did not understand much of it. She grabbed Gohan's arm.

'Gohan? Do you know this Shin guy?'

'Uhmm, no I really don't, but -' Gohan started.

'Well if those creeps are going to hurt people I won't stand for it just because that Shin guy says I shouldn't!' Videl declared, and Erasa nodded in agreement.

'Well uhmm, all I'm saying is I trust Piccolo and -'

'The fight has already started.' Piccolo interrupted, and he was right. The referee had declared the fight to begin a few moments ago. Goku and Vegeta had raised up their guards. There was a sudden feel of tension in the air, as Gohan, Piccolo, Shin, Yamu, and Spopovitch were all staring intently at the two combatants. Videl noticed Krillin, Kibito, and the tall man and the blonde woman she had seen during the qualifications all walked into the area, with that same concentrated gaze at the two combatants. Erasa poked Videl.

'What's up with all this?' Erasa whispered.

'I've got no idea.' Videl whispered back. 'But that Shin guy can talk all he wants, I'm not listening to him.'

And then, as if they agreed with each other when they would start fighting, Goku and Vegeta started to move.


	17. Vegeta vs Son Goku

Vegeta quickly approached Goku and landed a direct punch to Goku's head. Goku was forced back but managed to dodge Vegeta's second punch. Goku countered with a swift elbow to Vegeta's chest and followed up with a kick to Vegeta's stomach.

Vegeta landed on his hands and flipped back to his feet, then quickly bounced back and ramped up his speed. His low left-handed punch hit Goku hard in the stomach, and Vegeta followed with an elbow attack to Goku's neck. Goku was forced down, but he pressed his hand on the ground and performed a rolling kick at incredible speed to knock back Vegeta.

Videl could only stare in awe at how fast and strong they were. She sensed their ki, but it felt much more focused than any ki she had felt before. Their ki was not chaotic, it felt purposeful and smooth, as if every last bit of it was used to improve their fighting motions.

Vegeta landed back on his feet and put up his guard, while Goku quickly stood back up as well. Neither of them showed any sign of fatigue. Vegeta jumped and attacked Goku from above. Goku's after-image disappeared and Videl suddenly noticed Goku approaching from the side with a fast airborne kick. He moved right through Vegeta's image, flipped around, and caught Vegeta's punch in his hand.

 _How are they so fast? I can barely keep up with what's happening!_

Vegeta grinned maliciously and kicked Goku's blocking arm at the elbow. Vegeta then knocked Goku down into the ring and quickly descended, using his knee to attack Goku in his back while Goku was down.

'Some brutal offensive combat here by Vegeta!' The announcer exclaimed. 'It looks like Goku is down, no wait, he's already back up!'

Videl noticed Erasa hid behind her, which wasn't very successful as Erasa was a lot taller.

'Hey Videl, what the hell is this?' Erasa said while her body was shaking.

'I think they're really fast,' Videl replied. 'And strong too.'

'Do you think we should move a bit further away?'

'It'll be alright.' Videl said, trying to reassure Erasa. She'd rather stay close so she could follow the action better. 'I'm here, and Gohan's here too. Besides, they're not allowed to attack us.'

Goku and Vegeta were starting again, and it looked as if they were fighting even faster than before. Videl couldn't follow every move, but she saw Vegeta ascend quickly. Goku stood on the ground and fired a Kamehameha at Vegeta. Vegeta dodged Goku's attack and rained down several energy attacks on Goku. Goku was suddenly disappearing, it was another after-image! A different Goku suddenly attacked Vegeta from above. Vegeta saw it coming and tried to block, only to see another image of Goku moving right through him. And then Vegeta was suddenly surrounded by several versions of Goku, Videl assumed they were all images. _How the hell did Goku do that?_ Somehow Vegeta managed to block the real Goku's attack and throw Goku back down to the ring. Goku's impact was hard, his crash smashed a crater in the ring.

Vegeta quickly descended after Goku, but Goku managed to grab a portion of the ring next to him and punched the approaching Vegeta with it. The ring portion broke into pieces that flew off, primarily to the left side of the ring. Goku suddenly vanished and appeared on the left side, catching the ring pieces and using them to throw to Vegeta.

Vegeta wasn't having any of that however, seemingly unaffected by Goku's punch he used his energy attacks to blow up the ring pieces thrown by Goku. Goku started to accelerate towards Vegeta, going for an airborne kick, only to move again right through Vegeta. Vegeta turned around and saw Goku standing casually in the ring.

'Not too bad Vegeta, starting off strong huh?' Goku said excitedly.

'You haven't seen anything yet.' Vegeta replied. 'But you're not really all that tough are you? You only managed to hit me once so far. Are dead bodies just that weak, or am I just that much stronger than you? Either way, this is kind of disappointing.'

'I guess you ain't a joke.' Goku said with a smile, and he suddenly vanished.

'Son Goku's disappearing technique is back!' The announcer exclaimed. 'But will Vegeta be able to find Goku?'

Vegeta gave a smirk and vanished too. Videl could still sense traces of their energy, but it was so well controlled that it was impossible to track.

'How are they doing that?' Erasa asked Gohan while tugging his Saiyaman outfit.

'They're just moving very fast so it's difficult to see them if your eyes aren't used to it.' Gohan said, while seemingly being able to follow the battle without much trouble.

'Holy shit.' Erasa commented quietly. 'Can you do that too?'

Gohan blushed and looked down without directly answering.

'They're up there.' Gohan said, motioning up. It looked like Vegeta just scored a direct hit and Goku was falling back to the ring fast.

 _Was Gohan holding back this much against me? There's no way I could beat this kind of speed, I can't even follow them!_

Goku suddenly appeared to vanish again in the middle of his fall, but unlike his disappearing trick before, Videl couldn't sense a trace of the energy he used to move. Where had he gone? Videl looked up and saw Goku rapidly appearing and disappearing all around Vegeta. Videl also sensed Goku's energy increasing. It felt like Goku was literally appearing and disappearing, as if he didn't pass the space in between, and Videl also only sensed Goku's ki from the positions he appeared in. What was going on?

Goku appeared right beneath Vegeta and immediately unleashed his blue Kamehameha wave, but it looked like Vegeta managed to catch the Kamehameha wave with his hands. _How did he see that coming?_

Vegeta deflected Goku's attack, although it looked like it took considerable force to do so, and he descended to land in the ring. Goku also landed opposite to him. Goku barely seemed exhausted, while Vegeta still looked completely fresh. The referee looked completely out of words though.

'If that's the best you've got, you've got no chance against me Kakarot!' Vegeta said.

'You're really taking this seriously Vegeta, I didn't image you'd be this strong.' Goku said excited. 'How did you know from which side I'd attack?'

'You're far too predictable! I knew you'd attack from below, you're not allowed to attack from the side and attacking from above would have been too dangerous. You think I didn't see your son there? You care too much!' Vegeta said condescendingly while glancing at Gohan. 'You know, they told me I'm not allowed to kill my opponents here.' Vegeta smirked and glanced at Goku's halo. 'But you're already dead!'

 _What the hell? What kind of guy is this, talking about murder? This is a tournament, not war!_

Erasa looked at Videl in horror, obviously thinking the same thing. Videl approached Gohan.

'Hey Gohan, what did he mean by that?' Videl asked, her voice shaking. 'What's wrong with that guy?'

Gohan was startled by Videl's question and fidgeted with his hands.

'Well uhmm, it's like uhmm, an honour thing.' Gohan said hesitantly.

'That makes no sense, what kind of honour is there in killing someone?' Videl argued angrily.

Krillin answered, while Goku and Vegeta had a stand-off with their guard up, waiting for the other to move.

'Don't worry, he's just taunting Goku I think.' Krillin said. He then suddenly held out his hand to Videl. 'Oh, I'm Krillin by the way.'

Videl shook his hand.

'I'm Videl.'

'Gohan has told me about you, you're friends with him right?'

'I guess so yes, we met at school.'

'Well, a friend of Gohan is a friend of me.' Krillin said friendly, and he returned his attention back to the ring, where Vegeta started up again. A faint white glow started to appear around his body, and Vegeta engaged Goku in melee combat. He appeared to move even faster than before, although his ki seemed slightly less controlled so Videl could track it a bit better. Goku dodged and moved around the ring rapidly. Vegeta chased after him in close pursuit. Goku's ki also seemed slightly less controlled now, and Videl could sense that their ki was insanely strong.

Vegeta closed in and forced Goku to heavily lean back to dodge his attack. Goku flipped on his hands and kicked Vegeta with both legs in his stomach, with Vegeta's speed increasing the power of the blow. Vegeta was forced into the air, and Goku quickly vanished again. Goku appeared and disappeared again everywhere around Vegeta and started to charge up his energy attack like before.

'Won't Vegeta be able to see it coming again?' Videl wondered out loud.

'Goku's probably up to something else this time.' Krillin replied while watching Goku appear and disappear around Vegeta. 'Goku is not one to underestimate.'

Goku appeared right above Vegeta and fired his Kamehameha wave into the sky. The energy attack accelerated him downwards at insane speed and he hit Vegeta in the neck with his kick. They rapidly crashed down into the ring close to where Videl and the others were, the impact left a sizeable crater in the ring.

'Holy shit!' Videl exclaimed as the dust cleared, and she had to cough due to the dust, while Erasa screamed and ducked behind Videl for the second time. Videl had never seen anyone get hit that hard before.

'What a devastating attack by Son Goku!' The referee exclaimed. 'One! Two! Three! No wait, Vegeta's getting back up! What stamina! What endurance! Incredible!'

Vegeta indeed stood back up, while Goku grinned at him like a little kid, happy he found the solution to a problem. Vegeta spat out some blood on the ring, but didn't seem to be too concerned by it.

'I bet ya didn't see that one coming did ya Vegeta?' Goku said cheerfully.

Vegeta ascended and started to glow again. Goku quickly raised up his guard, his expression changing from cheerful to dead-serious in an instant. Vegeta launched a powerful energy attack straight at Goku, who stood right next to Videl and Erasa!

Videl suddenly felt herself getting rapidly carried into the air, and she heard the explosion beneath her. Upon looking at whoever was carrying her, Videl saw a goofy green outfit with a red cape. It was Gohan! And he was carrying Erasa in his other arm. How did he get them that fast? Erasa looked down in terror and suddenly vomited, spraying the contents of her stomach over Gohan's shoes.

'Holy shit that was close.' Videl said quietly.

Gohan descended again and set Videl and Erasa back on the ground, a few metres away from Erasa's vomit that had landed on the ground. Erasa dizzily looked at Videl.

'Videl?' She managed to bring out. 'I feel sick.'

Erasa vomited again on the ground. Videl quickly approached her.

'Are you okay?' Videl asked concerned. Krillin approached with a bottle of water.

'Here, drink this… I guess you're not used to moving at such speeds.'

Erasa drank the water and looked at Krillin.

'Thank you mister uhmm…' Erasa said weakly.

'I'm Krillin.' Krillin said. 'And don't thank me, thank Gohan! He's the one that saved you!' Krillin smiled.

Erasa drank some more water while Gohan turned red and quickly focused back on the fight. Vegeta was giving Goku a lot of trouble, giving him no room to escape. And then suddenly Videl sensed Goku's ki rising like crazy. It was nothing like any ki she had ever felt before, this felt far more volatile, more chaotic, more violent.

The air around Goku's body suddenly glowed red and Goku caught Vegeta's approaching punches while the ground started shaking. Goku kicked Vegeta in his stomach and followed with attacking Vegeta's chin with his knee. Goku still did not let go of Vegeta's arms but kicked Vegeta several times more against his chin. Videl sensed the ki that Goku was using in his attacks, it was ridiculously powerful, but it also felt like Goku was barely able to control it, it was so chaotic. Videl noticed that the ring beneath Goku was beginning to tear and break apart. _What the hell is this kind of ki?_

Vegeta tried to launch an energy attack from his hands but Goku quickly swung Vegeta around, throwing Vegeta over himself and smashing him head-first into the ground. Goku then grabbed Vegeta's head and tried to launch a massive energy attack into it, when suddenly Goku froze, still with that weird red energy around him.

Vegeta climbed out of the hole in the ground that he had been smashed into. He was breathing heavily, spitting blood, and his face looked bloody and injured after Goku's assault. He looked around to see what had happened when he saw Yamu and Spopovitch approaching rapidly. Vegeta then suddenly froze too. Yamu and Spopovitch both took out a weird device, looking a bit like an Arabic lamp with a genie in it, and stabbed Vegeta and Goku respectively with it.

'Father!' Gohan screamed out completely forgetting his disguise, and he tried to fly towards them, but Piccolo grabbed his foot.

'No Gohan, we were told not to interfere when they make their move!' Piccolo said out loud, and he glanced at that weird Shin guy. Videl now noticed that the weird Shin guy had his arms stretched out, one towards Goku and the other towards Vegeta. Did he cause them to freeze? Should she stop him so Goku and Vegeta could defend themselves? Videl suddenly remembered what Erasa had said, about Goku being a bad father who didn't deserve better. Was she right? As Videl stood next to the ring in doubt, Spopovitch and Yamu took out their weird lamps and flew off into the sky. Goku and Vegeta both collapsed, seemingly unconscious. Gohan, now released by Piccolo, immediately flew to Goku and hunched down over him.

'Gohan!' Shin called out. 'I want you, Piccolo, Krillin, Tenshinhan, and Lazuli to help me follow those two, to figure out where they are going. I can use the backup.'

'What about Goku?!' Krillin protested.

'Kibito will restore their energy.' Shin said calmly. 'They can finish their fight here while we deal with this. This is far more important than the Tournament.'

'What are you talking about?!' Videl argued angrily, suddenly feeling her spirit returning. 'First telling us to just watch them get stabbed and then follow you and those creeps to wherever? How do we know you're not with them? You knew they were planning an attack!'

'I will tell you everything on the way. You can come too if you want.'

'I'll stay here.' The blonde woman said. 'Someone needs to keep these two in line if they start fighting again.' She motioned to Vegeta and Goku, while Kibito was hunched over them and appeared to be infusing some kind of energy in them.

'Okay then I'll come.' Videl said, and she tried to fly up. 'But if you try anything…' But as she attempted to fly, she was immediately hit with a wave of fatigue, she quickly descended and landed. Apparently her ki hadn't recovered yet from her fight with Gohan.

'Fuck I can't fly!' Videl scolded. 'My ki hasn't recovered yet!'

'I've got an idea.' Gohan said, and he looked at the sky. 'Nimbus!'

A golden cloud appeared from the sky and approached them in response to Gohan's call, it stopped right next to Gohan.

'Try climbing on this.' Gohan suggested. 'This is the Flying Nimbus.'

 _What the hell?_

Videl tried climbing on the cloud, only to fall right through. It felt like falling through a pile of feathers.

'We don't have time for this, they're getting away!' Piccolo said harshly.

'Don't worry Piccolo, we'll just fly a bit faster.' Shin said. 'I've got North Kai watching them. Besides, it will be good to have someone who can go back and tell the others what's going on, just in case.'

Piccolo seemed to understand what Shin meant, while Videl was frustrated with the Nimbus.

'What the hell is this Gohan?' Videl said angrily as she fell through it again.

'I guess it doesn't like you, it can be picky like that.' Gohan said thoughtfully but tactlessly.

'What the…' Videl started, when Erasa interrupted.

'Let me try.' Erasa quickly hopped on the Nimbus without waiting for an answer. She didn't fall through. 'Wow, this feels kinda fluffy!' Erasa said curiously.

Videl could only stare in awe. _How come she can sit on it and I can't?_

'What the…?' Videl started again, when Erasa addressed her.

'Hey, you know I'll tell you everything!' Erasa said. 'I just wanna help out alright?'

Videl couldn't think of a counterargument when Erasa addressed Gohan.

'Hey Gohan, how do I use this thing?' Erasa asked.

'You just, imagine where you want to go I guess.' Gohan said. 'It just knows I guess, I don't really know.'

'Like this? Woah!' Erasa asked, and she suddenly ascended on the golden cloud.

'That's right.' Gohan said encouragingly.

'Now let's go.' Shin said, and he flew off, quickly followed by Piccolo, Krillin, and Tenshinhan.

'Hey Krillin, be careful out there!' The blonde woman yelled at the group. Krillin waved back.

'Don't worry, I'll be fine!'

Gohan looked at Erasa and was ready to follow the others when another voice spoke up behind Videl.

'Ehmm, mister Saiyaman?'

Videl looked around, it was Namu.

'What about my village?'

'Oh uhmm…' Gohan started. 'I'm really sorry, but something came up that I really need to deal with. I think Bulma can help you with your problem though, Videl knows her.' Gohan motioned to Videl. 'Tell Bulma I sent you and explain your situation to her, she will help you.'

'Okay then, thank you very much mister Great Saiyaman.' Namu said, and he bowed. Erasa looked at Videl as Videl was getting increasingly frustrated with being left out of the adventure and nobody seemed to care.

'Hey Videl, don't worry about me, I'll be fine.' Erasa said cheerfully. 'Gohan's with me. I'll tell you everything, I promise!'

And with that, Gohan and Erasa also flew off into the sky.


	18. History of Kais

Erasa and Gohan soared into the sky, leaving the Tournament grounds behind.

'Hey Gohan, do you know which way to go?' Erasa asked. Shin, Piccolo, and the others were already out of sight.

'It's this way.' Gohan said, flying west. 'I can sense Piccolo and the others.'

Erasa quickly followed on the Nimbus until she flew next to Gohan.

'Hey Gohan.' Erasa started. 'I was thinking… is this the same cloud that the people in Jingle Village told me about when they talked about your dad on a flying golden cloud defeating the Red Ribbon Army?'

'That's right.' Gohan said. 'I got it from my father when I was little.'

'I knew it.' Erasa said.

They flew a bit further without really saying anything, the Tournament grounds were already out of sight.

'Hey Gohan…' Erasa said shyly.

'Yes?'

'Thanks for… you know… saving me and Videl back there.'

Gohan didn't really know how to respond. He decided that responding like a hero would be best. After all, the Great Saiyaman was a hero.

'No problem at all Erasa!' Gohan said in his most heroic voice, making his most heroic pose. 'Heroic deeds are daily routine for the Great Saiyaman!'

Erasa giggled loudly.

'Ehmm…' Gohan said confused.

'You know…' Erasa started while still giggling. 'It's just… you know, you look so adorable in your cute hero outfit doing your hero speech.'

Gohan turned red.

'The Great Saiyaman is cool, noble, and heroic.' Gohan said defensively. 'The Great Saiyaman is not adorable or cute!'

Erasa broke out in laughter.

'Whahaha… the _one_ big weakness of the Great Saiyaman.' Erasa teased. 'Someone calling him adorable! Better not let any bad guys know! No wonder Videl figured out who you were behind that outfit.'

Gohan did not appreciate Erasa mocking him.

'Let's speed up a bit and catch up with the others, so we can find out what those creeps are up to.' Gohan said, and he quickly flew ahead. Erasa sped up the Nimbus to not lose Gohan.

Within half a minute or so they had caught up with Piccolo and the others.

'Hey Gohan!' Krillin waved as Gohan and Erasa joined Shin, Piccolo, Krillin, and Tenshinhan in the sky. 'Good to see you.'

'So, now that we're complete are you going to tell us what's going on?' Tenshinhan asked Shin.

'Yes, it's about time now that we're all here.' Shin said.

'First of all, we are currently following Spopovitch and Yamu to see where they are taking the energies they took from Goku and Vegeta. They're currently flying about ten kilometres ahead of us.'

Gohan looked ahead, they were too far away to see, and he could only barely sense their ki.

'Once they arrive at wherever they are going, we must not under any circumstance let them use that energy, and we must attack them immediately.'

'What do they want to do with the energy from Vegeta and Goku?' Piccolo asked.

'They want to restore life to an old monster that should never have been made, a monster called Majin Buu.' Shin said.

'I have never heard of Majin Buu before.' Krillin said. 'What kind of monster is it?'

'Majin Buu is a monster of incredible power, power that none of you can face in combat.' Shin said ominously. 'Majin Buu is also a monster that only seeks to destroy. It cannot be reasoned with, all it wants to do is destroy everything.'

'Why do those two want to restore a monster like that back to life?' Erasa asked. 'Are they really zombies, hoping that after Majin Buu kills everyone they can eat the remaining corpses?' Erasa added while raising her voice an octave. She almost fell off the Nimbus in her emotion, but the Golden Cloud responded quickly and caught her.

'I suppose I'll have to start at the beginning to answer that.' Shin said. 'What do you know about the Kais?'

'They're the ones who rule over the afterlife right?' Gohan commented.

'That's only a small part of our task. We also rule over this world, the living world.'

'So you are a Kai?' Erasa interrupted. 'Did you bring back Gohan's dad?'

'I authorised that yes.' Shin answered. 'By returning Son Goku to the Tournament, and letting him tell all of you in advance that he was coming, we anticipated use of high energy levels at the Tournament in order to lure Spopovitch and Yamu into exposing themselves.'

Gohan looked ahead, they weren't flying particularly fast but it felt like Spopovitch and Yamu weren't flying fast either. They had just left Papaya Island and were now flying above the sea.

'But back to the beginning.' Shin said. 'I am Kaio-Shin, the Supreme Kai. I am the highest of the Kais. Beneath me is the Grand Kai, who primarily supervises the Lower Kais. There are four Lower Kais, each of whom has their own planet in the Otherworld from where they can observe their quadrant of the universe.'

Gohan tried to imagine the universe as a spherical space, divided into four, and tried to determine where those planets would have to be to give a good overview, but he couldn't make it fit properly. Maybe if it was eight Lower Kais, but four?

'Gohan, don't try to imagine your world like that, it is far more complex.' Kaio-Shin said. 'That's also not the focus of what I need to tell you.'

 _How did he know what I was thinking about?_

Kaio-Shin continued his story.

'There is also a planet called the World Core, or Kaishin-Sei, and on this planet there stands a giant tree called Kaiju growing fruit. Once this fruit is ripe, a Shin-jin, or Core Person in your language, is born from it. Every time a Lower Kai position opens up the Grand Kai selects a new person from the Shin-jin to take over the position and become the new Kai.'

Gohan had no idea where this story was going, or what it had to do with Majin Buu, but he was still fascinated by it as South City started to become visible ahead and to their right.

'The Kaiju tree grows different colours of fruit. The most common green kinds grow into Core People. Rarely, a gold kind of fruit appears which grows into a stronger being, a Kaio-Shin. I am currently the only Kaio-Shin that exists.'

Erasa interrupted his story.

'So you can't like, you know… _reproduce_ yourself like we can?'

 _Erasa?! You can't just ask such things!_

'No, we cannot.' Kaio-Shin simply said. 'We are all born from Kaiju's fruit. We don't have genders or sex like humans do.'

'Well what if Kaiju dies?' Erasa asked curiously. 'Do you plant a part of yourself in the ground to grow a new Kaiju tree?'

'As far as I know Kaiju never dies.' Kaio-Shin said. 'But we're getting off-topic. I was telling about the Kaiju fruits. The green kinds grow into Core People, the gold kinds into Kaio-shin. There are also the red kinds that grow into MaShin-jin, or Demonic Core People, and the dark purple kinds that grow into MaKaio-Shin, or Demonic Supreme Kais.'

'What sets demonic people apart from regular people?' Piccolo asked.

'Their biophysics work differently, their ecosystem works differently.' Kaio-Shin said patiently. 'All MaShin-jin are sent to the Demon Realm, and the MaKaio-Shin rule the Demon Realm, just like the regular Kaio-Shin rule this realm. The Demon Realm is a different universe, opposite to ours. Mixing Demonic beings with beings from our world, even among Kais or Core People, is against nature. They have their own realm, and we have our own. It is a law that both our world and their world obliges.'

'What does this have to do with those guys and Majin Buu?' Tenshinhan commented.

'I'm getting to that, almost there.' Kaio-Shin continued. 'About ten thousand years ago the Kaiju tree bore a fruit never seen before or since. This fruit had parts that were gold, and parts that were dark purple, and from that fruit a being was born. This being possessed traits of both Kaio-Shin and of MaKaio-Shin, and we named it "Bibbidy".'

* * *

Gohan looked ahead, they had just left South City behind and to their right, and he couldn't sense Spopovitch and Yamu anymore.

'I can't sense Spopovitch and Yamu anymore.' Gohan interrupted. 'Have they landed somewhere?'

'No, they're a bit farther ahead now, it doesn't look like they'll land on this island, and I'd rather not have them know we're following them.' Kaio-Shin said.

'Can you still sense them?'

'Yes. North Kai also watches them from his planet, we won't be losing them.'

'Who is North Kai?' Erasa asked.

'North Kai is one of the four Lower Kais.' Kaio-Shin replied. 'Earth is located in the northern quadrant of the universe, the part that North Kai can observe from his planet.'

'He can see people here from a different planet?!' Erasa exclaimed. 'He must have really good eyes!'

'It's inherent to the Lower Kais to have such great vision, but it is also the precise position and design of their planet that helps them.' Kaio-Shin looked ahead again. 'Anyway, I was telling you about Bibbidy, who had traits of both Kaio-Shin and MaKaio-Shin.'

'Oh yeah, that's right.' Gohan recalled. 'And the MaKaio-Shin were the Kaio-Shin of the Demon Realm right?'

'Correct. Now as I said, demonic entities born from the Kaiju tree are sent to the Demon Realm, and entities that are of our world are sent to ours. Bibbidy was an exception, as he had traits of both worlds. At that time, there were multiple Kaio-Shin, and our leader Dai Kaio-Shin, the strongest and oldest of us, ordered for Bibbidy to be brought to the Kaio-Shin realm for investigation.'

'Why didn't the MaKaio-Shin decide?' Piccolo asked.

'The World Core planet upon which the Kaiju tree stands lies in between our Realm and the Demon Realm.' Kaio-Shin explained. 'Every thousand years we exchange power between the Demon Realm and ours to inhabit the planet and take care of the Kaiju tree. It was our turn at the time.'

'Anyway, Bibbidy was brought to the Kaio-Shin planet.' Kaio-Shin continued. 'Normally a new Kaio-Shin receives training, but Bibbidy did not. Instead, we investigated him to figure out what was to become of him. He was never to become a Kaio-Shin, he did not fit in our world or in the Demon Realm.'

'That's just awful!' Erasa exclaimed angrily. 'Just because he was a bit different you start investigating and experimenting on him! That's _so_ racist!'

'You have no idea what you're talking about.' Kaio-Shin replied fiercely. 'We Kaio-Shin are responsible for the creation of all planets and life in the universe! Allowing Bibbidy to create life would potentially create demonic life in our realm, which would upset the balance in the entire universe! It was far too dangerous. Didn't I tell you that life from the Demon Realm and life from our Realm should always stay separated?'

'Well, sorry, I didn't know that.' Erasa said quietly. 'I still don't understand why those two aren't allowed to meet though.'

'You are on the right track though.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Bibbidy did not appreciate not being granted either Kaio-Shin status or MaKaio-Shin status. He travelled into the living realm, and to prove his worth to us, attempted to create life of his own. Normally, new Kaio-Shin start with simple life forms to gain experience, however Bibbidy was ambitious. He wanted to prove to all of us that he was just as worthy of being a Kaio-Shin as we were. He was convinced that he could create life suitable for either realm. In his ambition, he went too far into creating a life form and failed to give it a proper mind.'

Kaio-Shin now started to look even more serious than he already looked.

'He created Majin Buu. A monster without any sort of empathy, but with incredible power. Bibbidy granted it too much power, even forces that should stay reserved for Kaio-Shin. Majin Buu could create life, but only to replace parts of itself that died, in essence regenerating itself. Majin Buu also gained the Kaio-Shin power to manipulate the minds of those around him. Like Kaio-Shin, Majin Buu could make others around him act differently, making them believe that they wanted to do those actions by using memories or thoughts that were already present in them, and amplifying them.'

'What do you mean by that?' Erasa asked. 'Can Majin Buu hypnotise others?'

'Not so strongly as you are thinking of.' Kaio-Shin said. 'A good example is how I stopped your friend Videl from stepping in when Spopovitch and Yamu made their move. Videl questioned whether or not Vegeta and Son Goku are good people. Vegeta had endangered you and her moments before, and you had fuelled her doubts to Son Goku. Those thoughts were already present inside her, I merely amplified them sufficiently to stop her from acting immediately.'

'Wait, why would you tell Videl my father is a bad person?' Gohan asked Erasa offended. 'You barely even know him! He hasn't been rude or anything to either of you!'

'Well, it's just…' Erasa hesitated.

'Those misunderstandings can wait until after we have stopped the return of Majin Buu!' Kaio-Shin interrupted. Gohan was still angry with Erasa for bad-mouthing his father, but Gohan suddenly found Kaio-Shin's story more interesting.

'Majin Buu, like Bibbidy, had traits of both demonic lifeforms and lifeforms of this world, although it was much stronger than Bibbidy. Majin Buu manipulated Bibbidy and corrupted his mind to enable its own cravings for destruction. It amplified Bibbidy's resentment towards the Kaio-Shin over time, until Bibbidy believed that it was his destiny to destroy both this realm and the Demon Realm, and then create a new realm, purely for hybrid lifeforms like Majin Buu, so that no lifeform would ever be left out again. What took Majin Buu long is to convince Bibbidy of the madness that the already existing lifeforms' destruction was necessary, that the hybrid lifeform was superior.'

'Wow, so Bibbidy was made mad by his own creation?' Gohan said.

'Exactly. With the help of Bibbidy, Majin Buu came to the Kaio-Shin realm and killed several Kaio-Shin without mercy. I was the only Kaio-Shin to survive Majin Buu's massacre by pure luck.'

'After that, Bibbidy started to work on his perceived destiny of destroying the Living Realm. Majin Buu destroyed hundreds of planets and all life on them. Anyway, Majin Buu was difficult to control for Bibbidy, so Bibbidy devised a means to seal Buu inside a ball. Majin Buu could not escape from this ball, only Bibbidy could release it, and Bibbidy released it upon each new planet they visited. I took the opportunity, and attacked and destroyed Bibbidy after a brutal battle while Majin Buu was sealed.'

'I get it.' Gohan said. 'By destroying Bibbidy, Majin Buu would stay sealed, so it couldn't become dangerous anymore.'

'Exactly.' Kaio-Shin said. 'However, Bibbidy had created another lifeform before his death. In perfect image to himself, Bibbidy created what he called Bobbidy, who was almost an exact copy of Bibbidy, including his insanity and powers. We did not know of Bobbidy's existence until about thirty years ago when West Kai spotted him in his quadrant and notified me. And Bobbidy is now here on Earth, using Spopovitch and Yamu to gather the energy he needs to release Majin Buu from the ball!'

Gohan considered this for a few moments as they were flying above the sea again.

'I feel like I'm missing a large portion of the story here.' Gohan said. 'What happened to the ball in which Majin Buu was sealed after you destroyed Bibbidy?'

'We moved it to the northern quadrant.' Kaio-Shin said. 'I do not have the capability to fight Majin Buu, and I feared that attempting to destroy that ball might accidentally release Buu.'

Kaio-Shin looked at Gohan.

'It was too dangerous to try and destroy the ball along with Buu, so I created a lifeless planet in the northern quadrant, a planet without any useful resources whatsoever, so that no lifeform would ever consider visiting it, and buried the ball there. I left North Kai the job of keeping an eye on that planet to make sure nobody ever found Majin Buu.'

'So what happened?' Piccolo asked.

'About thirty years ago we first learned of Bobbidy's existence. Bobbidy was smart and difficult to track, even for us, and we did not manage to catch him. He travelled all over the universe, and for several years his motives were unknown. About ten years ago we found him travelling to the northern quadrant. We believe he was looking for information on the whereabouts of Majin Buu, as well as more forces to do his bidding.'

Kaio-Shin looked at Gohan again.

'I believe you have heard of Freeza?' Kaio-Shin offered.

'No, what is Freeza?' Erasa asked.

'I guess you're the only one who doesn't know, but let me explain.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Freeza was once a powerful entity in the northern quadrant. Freeza controlled an empire of forces and planets, conquering new planets by force, primarily for resources and money. Freeza travelled to Earth about ten years ago, but was killed here before doing any damage.'

'Holy shit!' Erasa exclaimed. 'So I guess it was you guys who killed Freeza before he could destroy us all!'

'After Freeza's death his empire collapsed into chaos.' Kaio-Shin continued. 'Several factions of his forces fought among each other over the power, and it was this chaos that prevented Bobbidy from taking over Freeza's empire with ease. We believe that that was Bobbidy's original plan; to manipulate Freeza to do his bidding, use the knowledge and power from Freeza's empire to gather energy and find Majin Buu's location. But we had the advantage with North Kai watching over Majin Buu's ball, and we were convinced Bobbidy did not know where Buu was.'

'So is the ball still there?' Gohan asked.

'No.' Kaio-Shin said disappointed. 'Seven years ago, we suffered from an unexpected setback as we lost North Kai's planet. From what I understand a monster called Cell had been terrorising Earth and threatened to blow itself up along with Earth. Son Goku used his teleporting technique to bring Cell to North Kai's planet right before Cell exploded, destroying North Kai's planet. It took me several years to create a new planet for North Kai, and once we had proper vision over the northern quadrant again Majin Buu's ball was gone.'

'A teleporting techni…' Erasa started, when Gohan interrupted.

'But my father only meant to save all of us!' Gohan said defensively. 'If my father hadn't done that, we would have all been destroyed by Cell back then!'

'Yes, I know your father meant well.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Your father never knew anything about Majin Buu, nor did he understand how important the planets of the Lower Kais are. However you must realise that losing North Kai's planet was a huge setback to us as we suddenly had no more vision over the entire northern quadrant of the universe, including Majin Buu's ball.'

'I thought your mom said you destroyed Cell?' Erasa asked Gohan.

Gohan did not reply, he did not know how to talk about it.

'Cell survived that explosion, but Goku did not.' Krillin explained. 'After Cell survived it immediately came back to Earth, Gohan completely destroyed that monster when it came back.'

Gohan clenched his fists. If only he had destroyed Cell sooner, none of this would have happened! His father would still be alive, and North Kai's planet would never have been destroyed. The guilt was painful, but the realisation that Majin Buu hadn't been released yet grew stronger in Gohan's mind. Today would be different, he wouldn't mess it up today.

Piccolo distracted Gohan by addressing Kaio-Shin. 'How did you find out Bobbidy was on Earth, why Earth?'

'It was an educated guess.' Kaio-Shin said. 'We knew Bobbidy required energy to release Majin Buu from its ball. It was likely that Bobbidy found out Freeza's last destination was Earth from the remainders of Freeza's empire, and that Freeza had been destroyed here. Bobbidy would figure life with extraordinary energy levels was living on Earth, and come here to claim that energy for Majin Buu. Seeing Yamu and Spopovitch at the Tournament, and their powers, confirmed my suspicion that Bobbidy is on Earth.'

'There's still something I don't get.' Piccolo said. 'Couldn't Bobbidy simply create a new Majin Buu instead of going through all this trouble releasing the old one?'

'He probably could, but the fact that he hasn't done so yet after all this time suggests that that is not his goal.' Kaio-Shin said. 'My guess is that Majin Buu messed with Bibbidy's mind, and by extension Bobbidy's mind, for so long that Bobbidy truly believes that he _has_ to release this Majin Buu. Still, the possibility of Bobbidy creating another Majin Buu is dangerous enough in itself that I must insist we attack immediately as soon as we find out where he is and take him out.'

'If I'm not too rude asking this…' Tenshinhan started. 'Why didn't you tell us about this before? Why wait until today?'

'I have several reasons.' Kaio-Shin said. 'First of all, I was not sure yet if Bobbidy was on Earth before seeing Spopovitch and Yamu. Second, I did not want to alert Bobbidy to my presence, the less people knew about me being here the better. And finally, I do not want Son Goku or Vegeta knowing about Majin Buu.'

'Why can't they know?' Krillin asked. 'They could have helped out too.'

'I fear that they would want to see Majin Buu get released to get a chance to fight such a strong monster, instead of doing everything they could to prevent Majin Buu's release.' Kaio-Shin said.

'My father would never do something so dangerous!' Gohan responded angrily. 'He would never risk all of our lives just for a fight!'

'Maybe not, but I have seen glimpses of your father's development in the afterlife for the last seven years, and fighting is something he loves more than anyone else I've ever seen. I do not want to take the risk.'

'Didn't your dad risk your life when he brought you along to the Cell Games?' Erasa commented.

'That's different!' Gohan argued defensively. 'If we didn't beat Cell there Cell would have killed me anyway, along with everyone else on Earth!'

'What kind of power can we expect from Bobbidy?' Piccolo interrupted.

'Difficult to say.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Judging from what North Kai has been telling me about all of you, I think Bibbidy was roughly similar to Cell. But Bobbidy may have found ways to increase his strength over the years or may have some backup forces that he manipulated into joining him. I think that if we attack together we have a good chance of defeating him.'

'Still sounds risky.' Piccolo commented. 'I think we might need a backup plan.'

Gohan had an idea.

'Why doesn't Erasa fly back to the Tournament grounds?' Gohan suggested. 'She can go with Bulma and the others to look for the Dragon Balls in case we need them.'

'That's a good idea.' Kaio-Shin said.

'Dragon Balls?' Erasa asked confused.

'We need to speed up.' Kaio-Shin interrupted. 'Spopovitch and Yamu are getting close to land, we don't want them to be far ahead anymore. Erasa, you fly back!'

'But what…' Erasa responded.

'Bulma and the others will explain!' Kaio-Shin added.

'Should I tell Gohan's dad about what's going on?' Erasa asked.

'No.' Kaio-Shin said. 'If things get so desperate that we need backup North Kai will contact him directly.'

'So tell Gohan's mom and Bulma about what's going on, and tell them to look for Dragon Balls?' Erasa summarised.

Gohan nodded. 'That's right. Now get going, as fast as you can! The sooner we have those Dragon Balls the better.'

'But…' Erasa started, then changed her mind. 'Okay then, but promise me you'll be careful.'

'I will.' Gohan said.

Erasa turned the Nimbus around and started to fly the other way.

'And don't tell those guys about your weakness!' Erasa shouted back at him, as she sped up the Nimbus back in Eastern direction. Gohan turned red again. As Gohan looked back at the Nimbus flying out of sight, he saw someone else approaching from behind.

'Someone's coming.' Gohan said, causing everyone else except for Kaio-Shin to also look.

Before long Gohan recognised the figure as Kibito.

'Good I managed to catch up to you.' Kibito said as he joined them. 'Restoring the energy of Son Goku and Vegeta took much longer than I thought, Spopovitch and Yamu must have taken a lot of energy.'

'Good work.' Kaio-Shin replied. 'I assume you haven't told them about our mission?'

'I haven't.' Kibito replied. 'I told them we could handle it, and they were both eager to continue the battle they had started so it wasn't hard to keep them there.'

'Are you also a Kai?' Krillin asked Kibito.

'No, I am a Shin-jin, selected by Kaio-Shin to be his assistant. Only those who become Kaio-Shin, Grand Kai, or Lower Kais are actually considered Kais.'

'Attention everyone.' Kaio-Shin said. 'It looks like Yamu and Spopovitch are about to land. It is time to make our move!'

* * *

 **[Author's Note: The longest chapter I've written so far. Some of the backstory elements don't exactly follow official lore (primarily the Demon Realm expansion), but Kais being born from fruit grown on a big tree on the World Core Planet is all official lore. I want to thank the folks at Kanzenshuu for the translations they have regarding the Kaiju tree and how Kais get born. I know this chapter is a bit exposition-heavy, but I think it is necessary at this point in the story if I want to give Bibbidy and Bobbidy a proper motive and backstory (as opposed to the original, which was pretty abysmal on that front). I don't foresee any chapter in the remainder of this story being as exposition-heavy as this one.]**


	19. Gohan's Demons

The group sped up considerably to catch up to Spopovitch and Yamu.

'What is our plan?' Krillin asked nervously.

'I think you should blind them first Krillin.' Piccolo said. 'Then once they're blinded someone else will attack them from above.'

'I'll do that.' Tenshinhan said.

'Alright then.' Piccolo said, taking the lead. 'Krillin blinds them, then Tenshinhan attacks. We will cover you both!'

Piccolo glanced at Gohan in concern, who nodded. Gohan was nervous, from the sounds of it Bobbidy was really strong. At least Gohan wasn't alone. He knew Krillin and Piccolo very well, and was glad they were with him. Or did he want them to leave like Erasa as to not endanger them? Being happy that Krillin and Piccolo were with him in potential life-threatening danger seemed really selfish. Gohan was almost eighteen already, he shouldn't need Krillin and Piccolo anymore to hold his hand!

'There they are!' Kaio-Shin announced, disturbing Gohan's thoughts.

Gohan spotted them as they approached. Spopovitch and Yamu had just touched down on the ground. There was some kind of structure buried in the ground that looked like the top of a rocket, and Spopovitch and Yamu were approaching it. Krillin sped towards them, with Tenshinhan close behind him. Gohan saw another figure exit the structure.

'Who's that?' Gohan asked Kaio-Shin. 'Is that Bobbidy?'

'No, it's not. I think it's someone Bobbidy recruited from the remainders of Freeza's empire, judging by that armour.'

Krillin launched his Taio-Ken, blinding all three figures on the ground, while Tenshinhan charged his attack. He formed a square with his hands and looked down on the ground. Gohan sensed a large amount of ki building up in his hands, and they started to glow. Gohan also sensed that Tenshinhan wasn't just using his regular ki, he was using more. Somehow he managed to prevent his body from passing out at this ki usage, although Gohan had no idea how.

'KIKOHO!'

Tenshinhan's Kikoho enveloped the three figures and the structure in a blinding light of energy. The explosion was so loud Gohan wondered if they could hear it at all the way back at the Tournament.

As the dust cleared and the blinding light dimmed down a bit Gohan saw that the structure was gone. The three figures were also gone, but there was another figure standing there. He was tall, with a reddish skin as if he had been in the sun for too long, wearing a white cape, blue torso, and white jeans. In his hands he held the two devices that Spopovitch and Yamu had used to attack Goku and Vegeta.

'He saved the energy.' Piccolo said. 'Is that Bobbidy?'

'No.' Kaio-Shin said concerned. 'That's not Bobbidy either. That's Dabura, a MaKaio-Shin. I never expected him to be here too. The Demon Realm shouldn't even know about this entire ordeal!'

'Is he on our side?'

'I doubt it. He would have contacted me if he was. But I don't understand why he would be helping Bobbidy.'

'Could Bobbidy have manipulated him?' Gohan asked.

'That is a possibility.' Kaio-Shin said as two more figures appeared from the gaping hole in the ground that the Kikoho left. One looked like a monster, hunched and dark green, and the other more humanoid with an orange skin and of average height.

'That's Bobbidy! We've got to attack now!'

'Wait, which one is Bobbidy?'

Kaio-Shin rushed in immediately without replying, and Piccolo followed quickly after him. Kaio-Shin attacked the orange skinned humanoid. Dabura tried to interfere but Piccolo blocked Dabura. The monster also tried to interfere and was stopped by Krillin and Tenshinhan. Piccolo was thrown back into the sky by Dabura, who quickly followed him.

'Gohan!' Piccolo screamed. 'Don't just stand there!'

As Piccolo was distracted Dabura knocked him further away and followed him. Piccolo was right, he couldn't just stand here! Gohan concentrated and transformed into his golden-haired Super Saiyan form. He approached Dabura from behind, grabbed his leg, and quickly threw Dabura down into the ground. Piccolo took the opportunity to launch a large number of ki attacks at Dabura.

Gohan also sensed Krillin and Tenshinhan fighting far behind him. He had no idea where Kibito was, or what was happening with Kaio-Shin.

Piccolo gathered ki and launched a powerful energy attack into the ground where Gohan had thrown Dabura, and Gohan followed up with his own energy attack. But Dabura jumped out and managed to dodge Gohan's attack. It didn't look like Piccolo's attack did any significant damage.

Dabura quickly flew up and went for a frontal assault on Gohan. Dabura was fast and Gohan barely managed to deflect the punch. As Dabura looked at Gohan he opened his mouth and breathed fire at Gohan. Gohan flew back quickly to dodge, while Piccolo attacked Dabura from behind. Piccolo knocked Dabura back towards Gohan, who managed to dodge the approaching Dabura.

'Gohan!' Piccolo screamed. 'You were supposed to hit him when I knocked him at you!'

Dabura returned before Gohan could have even said an answer. Dabura conjured up a sword out of nowhere and used it to attack Piccolo. Piccolo was taken by surprise and moved sideways quickly to avoid the sword's upward motion. Gohan saw Dabura's sword narrowingly miss Piccolo's torso and legs but hit his arm right next to the shoulder, and the sword didn't stop!

'Piccolo!' Gohan screamed. Gohan attacked Dabura from the side with his kick to Dabura's torso, knocking him away from Piccolo. Gohan went in for the pursuit at high speed. He saw Dabura get ready to attack him. Gohan blocked the slashing attack with his left hand, grabbing Dabura's wrist, and collected a large amount of ki in his right hand in the meantime, hitting Dabura in the head to knock Dabura back further. Gohan concentrated more ki and launched a powerful energy wave straight at Dabura.

After launching his attack, Gohan quickly flew back to Piccolo, who was missing his left arm. Gohan had messed it up again; he hadn't been able to protect Piccolo!

'Piccolo!' Gohan exclaimed. 'I'm so sorry!'

Piccolo seemed to be concentrating immensely, and a new arm grew from his shoulder.

'Wow Piccolo, I forgot you could do that!' Gohan proclaimed relieved.

'Focus Gohan!' Piccolo exclaimed angrily. 'Watch out!'

Gohan saw Piccolo was looking behind him. Instinctively, Gohan released a massive energy wave behind him straight at Dabura, hitting him head-on. Gohan turned around and saw Dabura get pushed back quickly by his attack. Dabura collided with a mountain and the energy erupted in a massive explosion, blowing up the entire mountain.

'Nice one Gohan! Let's find the others!' Piccolo commanded, and he quickly departed. But Piccolo froze again almost immediately, looking at the remainders of the mountain Gohan just destroyed. Dabura appeared again, seemingly a bit shaken up but relatively unharmed.

'Damn it, he's tough!' Piccolo declared. 'We need to do this together Gohan! Get ready!'

'Right.' Gohan said more determined than he felt while raising his guard. 'Do you have a plan?'

Before Piccolo could reply Dabura attacked from a distance with his firebreath. Gohan and Piccolo both flew out of the way to dodge, but the fire started following them through the air. Gohan tried to launch an energy attack to counter it, but his ki attack appeared to only intensify Dabura's fire. Dabura's fire wasn't conjured up with ki, it was something else entirely.

'Don't add energy to it Piccolo!' Gohan yelled. 'It'll only make it stronger!'

Gohan started flying around at high speed trying to outrun Dabura's attack, while Piccolo flew low to the ground towards Dabura. Gohan understood what Piccolo was trying to do and also flew towards Dabura. Dabura looked at his pursuers and quickly moved, obviously seeing what they were up to.

'Oh no you don't!' Piccolo grunted, and he reached out to grab Dabura, stretching his arms way more than humans could. Piccolo grabbed Dabura's foot, even though he was still around twenty metres away from Piccolo, and threw Dabura back into his own fire. Gohan watched Dabura disappear into the fire, and the fire chasing Gohan dissipated.

'It's not over yet.' Gohan said. The fire that had been chasing Piccolo was fully enveloping Dabura now without dissipating.

'This is our chance!' Piccolo shouted, and he started launching energy attacks into the flames. As before, they only seemed to intensify the fire. Gohan joined Piccolo in launching energy attacks, and they felt the heat emanating from the burning Dabura in mid-air increasing rapidly. The fire then suddenly started to concentrate closer around Dabura, until Dabura was visible again, enveloped in flames. The fire did not appear to harm Dabura at all, even though the heat emitted was immense.

'What the ...?' Gohan hesitated. 'How is he not hurt by that fire?'

'He must be immune.' Piccolo decided. 'This is going to be difficult.'

Gohan agreed. The fire would make it almost impossible to fight up close, while it appeared to absorb the energy of ki attacks.

Dabura absorbed more of the fire, his sword started glowing from the heat. Then he attacked, slashing his sword aiming at Gohan. Gohan managed to dodge Dabura's attacks, but could not find an opening for a counterattack. The heat being emitted by Dabura was starting to burn Gohan's Saiyaman suit. He had to dissipate Dabura's heat somehow. Gohan started flying away from Dabura, trying to gain distance as fast as he could while staying subsonic, knowing from experience that the air felt a lot hotter in supersonic flight. Dabura went on the pursuit. The wind blowing past them started to feel cold due to their speed, which Gohan appreciated after Dabura's searing heat. Gohan noticed Piccolo was also chasing them. Gohan slowed down, concentrating his ki, and dodged Dabura's slashing attack. Immediately after Dabura slashed, Gohan tried to punch Dabura in his torso. He deflected Dabura's next slash, and kicked Dabura back to Piccolo. Piccolo had seen Gohan's setup coming and knocked Dabura down hard. Dabura crashed into the ground at high speed.

'I think his fire is out now!' Piccolo proclaimed. 'Nice work using your speed to cool him down!'

Piccolo proceeded to charge up a massive energy attack. Gohan joined him to charge up his own energy attack.

'I can't sense his energy at all.' Gohan said, noticing he hadn't been able to sense Dabura's energy at all since he first appeared.

'Me neither, haven't been able to since the beginning.' Piccolo replied while continuing to concentrate more energy.

Dabura appeared again from the ground and was charging up towards them, preparing an attack with his sword. Gohan knew he had to attack now. Piccolo and Gohan both unleashed their energy attacks straight at Dabura. The two attacks combined into a powerful energy beam. Unfortunately for them, Dabura had anticipated their attack and swiftly swerved out of the way to avoid it.

 _It's going to hit the Earth!_

In a state of panic and adrenaline, Gohan flew towards the ground at hypersonic speed. He overtook the energy attack Piccolo and he had sent down. Touching down on the ground, Gohan concentrated more of his own ki and fired back up with his most powerful energy attack thus far. The immense amount of ki Gohan was using was tearing apart the soil underneath him, and Gohan was sinking down with the ground. His new energy attack collided with the combined attack he and Piccolo had sent down earlier.

Gohan put in more energy, feeling his power surging through his body, trying to push back their combined attack. All Gohan could think about was pushing that attack back. He _had_ to push it back. There was no other option. It could not hit the Earth! Gohan knew it was strong enough to potentially destroy the entire planet! The weight Gohan felt on his feet was more than he ever felt, both literally and figuratively, and was continuing to collapse the ground underneath him as he sank deeper and deeper, but his legs and feet would have to hold. And little by little, Gohan saw the combined attack being pushed back up into the sky, slowly getting weaker and weaker as its ki was dissipating and combining with its own attack. The combined attack eventually dissipated completely, and Gohan released his attack straight into the sky.

Gohan was panting. All that power that had just been present in his body seemed to vanish. He couldn't hold on to it, and Gohan didn't understand why. It didn't feel like fatigue. He looked back up to see Dabura chasing Piccolo. Piccolo was being overrun, Dabura was simply faster and stronger than him, Piccolo was barely managing to dodge Dabura's sword. Piccolo needed his help!

Gohan hurried and flew back up. He charged in and aimed for Dabura's head with his kick. Dabura was knocked back, while Gohan's foot protested against the contact.

'Thanks Gohan.' Piccolo panted. 'That was a close one!'

'Sure.' Gohan replied, not letting Dabura out of his sight. Dabura was staring at Gohan with a curious look.

'We need to finish this somehow Gohan, the others also need our help!'

'Right!' Gohan said. Piccolo was right, Krillin and the others were fighting too, the sooner they were there to help them the better.

Gohan accelerated towards Dabura, who held out his left hand and made a circular motion with it. From his hand Dabura formed something Gohan had never seen before. It looked like some sort of gateway. As Gohan flew closer to Dabura, the latter flew into the gateway that he created. The gateway vanished again before Gohan could reach it.

'What is …?' Gohan started while he turned around to look at Piccolo. As Gohan turned around, he saw a gateway, pretty much the same as before, form behind Piccolo.

'Piccolo!' Gohan yelled. 'BEHIND YOU!'

Dabura appeared from the gateway, and Gohan saw the downward motion of his sword as Piccolo was still looking at Gohan. Dabura slashed straight through Piccolo's head and torso. As Dabura had sliced Piccolo in half, he used his fire to engulf Piccolo. Gohan sensed Piccolo's ki completely disappearing. He was gone.


	20. Gohan's Endeavour

'PICCOLO!'

Gohan was overthrown by a blind panic – Piccolo couldn't be dead. All of his senses must be lying to him! Gohan had failed Piccolo! He was supposed to be the strongest! Dabura, with the lower half of his body still behind that strange gateway, looked at Gohan.

 _That monster!_

Gohan felt an enormous power surge through him. Piccolo's last words reverberated through his head. _"We've got to end this somehow Gohan, the others also need our help!"_ Piccolo had been right, he had to end this right now! Even if Piccolo was gone, his words were still true. The least Gohan could do, the least Gohan _should_ do, was honour those last words now! Get rid of Dabura right now, and go help Krillin and the others!

Gohan accelerated at ridiculous speed to Dabura. Dabura was surprised by Gohan's speed, and tried to retreat back into the gateway. The gateway was closing, but Gohan stuck his arm through and pulled Dabura back out. In his emotion, Gohan barely even felt the hot air on the other side of the gateway, and he cared even less. Gohan kicked Dabura in his torso area, knocking him into the sky above him. Gohan ascended and quickly overtook Dabura. Once above his opponent, Gohan aimed and kicked Dabura in the neck, causing him to crash straight down into the ground. Gohan wasn't done yet, and as Dabura was getting up Gohan already stood next to him. Gohan punched Dabura in the head as hard as he could. Dabura was immediately knocked down again.

Gohan grabbed Dabura's sword arm with both of his hands while the latter was still down, and he twisted it. Dabura would not kill anyone ever again with that sword! Dabura opened his mouth, but Gohan quickly jumped over him to dodge his fire attack, keeping his arm firmly gripped. Gohan applied more torsion to Dabura's arm, quickly tearing it off. Dabura's hand was now completely separated from the rest of his body.

Gohan, still standing behind Dabura, grabbed the back of Dabura's head with his right hand and Dabura's left arm with his left hand. There was no way Gohan would allow Dabura to delay him any further in helping Krillin and the others! He would not have their deaths on his conscience too! Gohan concentrated his energy into his right hand, preparing to blast Dabura's head to smithereens, when suddenly Gohan felt the right side of his abdomen getting pierced by something.

As Gohan looked down, he saw that Dabura had his right hand back, and he had stabbed Gohan with a small dagger. Looking a bit further ahead on the ground, Gohan saw another right hand from Dabura still lying on the ground, with a sword still grasped in it. The pain forced Gohan to release Dabura's left arm and the energy in his right hand dissipated. Dabura knocked Gohan back and pulled out his dagger while panting.

'Incredible power you have.' Dabura panted heavily, speaking for the first time since Gohan met him. 'Especially for a mortal not even from Kaiju. But this ends now!'

Gohan's abdomen hurt like hell. But he wouldn't give up. He _had to_ keep going! Keep on going for Piccolo! Gohan concentrated and accelerated towards Dabura, punching the latter in his abdomen again. Dabura, surprised that Gohan still had this much in him, was knocked back. Gohan gave chase and released a flurry of punches and kicks at any spot of Dabura he could hit. Gohan knew he couldn't keep this up, he was heavily injured. He had to finish this now! He concentrated a portion of his ki into his right hand while continuing to kick Dabura. He closed his hand over Dabura's face and tried to launch his energy attack for a second time. Gohan spotted Dabura's motion with his dagger and grabbed Dabura by the wrist with his left hand. He spotted Dabura creating another dagger in his left hand and he quickly used his right foot to kick it out of Dabura's hand, cutting Dabura's hand open.

Just as Gohan was releasing his energy attack into Dabura's face, Dabura released his fire breath, protecting him against Gohan's ki. Gohan felt his hand burn, but he could not give in now! In desperation, Gohan attacked Dabura repeatedly in his abdomen with his knee while keeping Dabura's fire sealed in his mouth.

As Gohan focused more energy in his right hand, the combination of all that ki and the fire in Dabura's mouth resulted in a violent explosion. Gohan's hand was blown back, carrying the rest of his body with him, and Gohan painfully landed on the side of his abdomen, scraping his stab wound over the rocky soil in between foliage. That blow really hurt badly, Gohan knew he couldn't take much more. Feeling his right arm, Gohan noticed any kind of movement hurt terribly. It was broken.

Memories of his fight with Cell came back to Gohan, where he had ended up with a broken arm too towards the end. They weren't happy memories, and Gohan tried to push them away. The resemblance was uncanny; Gohan remembered how his father teleported Cell away and died doing so, and then Gohan's memory of seeing Piccolo get killed by Dabura came back as well. How much more people would be dying because he continued to screw up?! But back then, Gohan had still managed to defeat Cell in the end, even with one arm! Dabura must be feeling that blast too! He should be significantly weakened! Gohan still had a chance to end this!

As Gohan tried to get back up, he sensed a new ki approaching. Or was it two? Now that he focused a bit better, he sensed two distinct pairs of ki, but each of them felt incomplete. He never felt ki like that before, each felt as if it only belonged to half a person, and the other half of their ki was simply missing. What was going on?


	21. The Golden Saviour

**[Author's note: I've had a few reviews lately that essentially reminded me that I never discussed what I consider 'canon' for this story, so I guess I'll clarify that here. For this story, I consider this a branched timeline from the original one. Everything up to and including the Cell Games I consider canon as per Toriyama's original story, but Toriyama's Majin Buu arc and everything coming after that (end of Z, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball AF etc.) are all not taken into account as canon for this story.**

 **What does this mean? Essentially it means that while this story, especially the beginning part, is based on the original Buu arc, the powers of characters in this story are not necessarily the same or even similar to those in Toriyama's Buu arc. So if Dabura, Majin Buu, Bobbidy, or any other character appears too weak/strong compared to Toriyama's Buu arc, that is because I believe these powers fit** _ **this story**_ **better. After all, any character is generally as strong as the plot demands that character to be, while staying believable within the context of that fictional universe (Toriyama's Buu arc does not happen in the same fictional universe as this story basically).**

 **What does it mean that I don't take end of Z, Dragon Ball Super, etc. into account? It essentially means that events may happen in this story that contradict or prevent events in those other series from taking place. For instance, this means that the ending for this story may not necessarily hold the same status quo as the original Buu arc. Some techniques learned in the original Buu arc may not exist in this story, and vice-versa. I do not want to go into more detail in this for the sake of not spoiling the story, but I hope this clarifies it somewhat.**

 **Another note is more specific to this chapter itself. It has come to my attention that the background lore in Chapter 18 - History of Kais was not clear to some readers. I've summarised the lore in this chapter to hopefully alleviate some of the confusion. This is the first fictional story I've ever written, so I will inevitably make mistakes and screw up from time to time. I hope you will continue sending me feedback either by sending me a PM or by posting a review. It really helps me learn and improve.]**

* * *

As Erasa saw Gohan and the others disappear from sight she called after them.

'And don't tell those guys about your weakness!'

As Erasa flew back, she realised she had no idea if she was flying the right way. The question of how she would find her way back hadn't popped up in her head at all when she was still with the others. And now she was all alone… on a weird magical golden cloud above a sea that seemed to extend indefinitely.

Erasa halted the Nimbus and considered her options. She could try to fly back to Gohan and the others and ask them for help, but finding them back might be just as hard. And according to that Shin guy it was probably quite dangerous. What if she ran into those zombie creeps? Erasa remembered Gohan fighting with Videl, and Gohan's dad fighting that Vegeta guy. There was no way Erasa could help out if it came to that kind of fighting. Finding Gohan and the others was not an option.

To think that it was only this morning she flew to Papaya Island expecting to cheer Videl on in her Tournament. That seemed like ages ago now. She never expected to learn all this weird stuff about energy and monsters and Videl flying and shy dorky Gohan actually fighting so well and Gohan's dad being dead but still walking around and everything else, it boggled her mind. As comfortable as the Flying Nimbus was, she was scared as shit being all alone without Videl or anyone else.

Maybe she could try calling Videl? Maybe she could fly already and come get her? Videl learned how to sense people right? Erasa took out her phone. No signal. Of course – she was above the ocean with no signs of civilisation in sight. As Erasa was about to put her phone back she noticed the little navigation symbol on it. She still had satellite navigation! She could use this to find her way back! Erasa opened up her maps app – it showed her location was surrounded by water. That seemed about right. She entered Papaya Island as her destination and zoomed out until she could see both her own location and Papaya Island on the screen. The phone told her she still had over three thousand kilometres to fly.

Holy shit that was far! Had they really flown that far? The Flying Nimbus must be ridiculously fast. How fast could Gohan even fly? That couldn't actually be real could it? Erasa wondered if her phone might be broken.

Suddenly Erasa heard a loud explosion from far behind her. The bang startled her so much she fell off the Nimbus for real this time. Erasa shrieked as she fell towards the water, but the splash never came. Erasa felt a soft fluffy surface catching her. As she opened her eyes again she saw the Flying Nimbus had caught her and her phone.

'Woah.' Erasa said out loud. 'That was close. Thanks a lot!'

She patted the Nimbus, unsure if it actually had feelings or not. It definitely decided on its own to fly down and catch her. Erasa looked around. What even was that noise? Was Gohan alright? Was Gohan or one of the others the cause of that noise? Erasa remembered the last thing she told Gohan, some stupid comment about him being adorable. She ought to have said something a bit more encouraging.

 _What are you doing Erasa?! You've got to help out too remember?! Tell Videl and the others!_

As scared as Erasa was, the thought of seeing Videl again sparked her fire. Videl always had the kind of confidence and determination that assured Erasa everything was going to be alright. She turned on the speed measuring option of her phone and tried to fly Nimbus in the direction the phone told her. She sped up the Nimbus as fast as she could while glancing at her phone, and she saw the displayed speed increasing at a ridiculous rate. 500 km/h, 1000 km/h, 1500 km/h, 2000 km/h … and it didn't look like the Nimbus was even close to going as fast as it could. She looked down to the water - she was flying a lot lower than she had flown with Gohan and the others. The waves looked like a vague blur due to the ridiculous speed. But for some reason it didn't feel like she was going fast. She barely even felt any wind at all. It was still really comfortable on the Nimbus.

She should ask Gohan's dad where he got this cloud, now she wanted one of her own too, it was far more comfortable than any airplane. And a freaking flying golden cloud that even saves you when you fall off?! That's freaking cool!

 _Come on Erasa, focus for once in your life! Gohan told you to help out and tell the others!_

As Erasa flew towards Papaya Island, she saw land appearing in the distance. From the map on her phone, it definitely looked like she was going the right way. She should soon be seeing South City. Only 1500 kilometres further. What was it again she had to tell the others? Dragon Balls, that's it! They had to go do something with Dragon Balls. And tell the story that the Kaio-Shin guy told her. Erasa summarised the story that Kaio-Shin had told her to help her, and the reader of this story, to remember.

All the Kai's and the Kaio-Shin were born from the Kaiju tree. There were the normal ones for their world, and the demonic ones for the Demon Realm. The Kaio-Shin were responsible for creating life and planets in the universe, and the Lower Kai's looked if everything was alright.

At one time, a Kaio-Shin that was not really from their world but also not really demonic was born from the tree, and they called him Bibbidy. Because the other Kaio-Shin were racist he wasn't allowed to create life himself, but Bibbidy did so anyway to prove himself and made Majin Buu. Majin Buu did not have a proper mind however, and it could manipulate others - it drove Bibbidy mad. When the Kaio-Shin tried to stop Buu they were all killed apart from the one guy that had been with them today. And after that Bibbidy and Majin Buu started destroying many planets, wanting to destroy the entire universe and the Demon Realm to create their new world for hybrid creatures like them.

But Majin Buu was too difficult to control for Bibbidy, so Bibbidy sealed Majin Buu in a ball as a means of control. As he did so, Kaio-Shin destroyed Bibbidy and took the ball that contained Buu, hoping it'd never be released again. Kaio-Shin created a lifeless planet without any resources and buried the ball there.

Kaio-Shin hadn't known about Bobbidy however, a being created by Bibbidy, which was just like him. And Bobbidy was created to be just as crazy as Bibbidy. Kaio-Shin hadn't known about Bobbidy until recently.

There had been this genocidal alien emperor called Freeza who had a lot of planets under his control. Bobbidy had wanted to manipulate Freeza and get him under his control, but before Bobbidy ever got anywhere near him Freeza had come to Earth and was killed here by Gohan and his friends. But because Freeza had been killed on Earth Bobbidy knew strong people lived here and that's why he came here.

During the Cell Games Gohan's dad somehow teleported Cell to the planet of North Kai and Cell blew himself up causing that planet to be destroyed. They lost vision over Majin Buu's ball. And when they had made another planet for North Kai, Bobbidy had managed to steal Buu's ball in the meantime. And Bobbidy had sent those zombie creeps to the Tournament to try and get the energy he needed to release Majin Buu. So now Gohan and the others were going after Bobbidy and those zombie creeps to try and prevent Majin Buu from being released.

It was still all very surreal for Erasa, it sounded like a crazy story. How could something like that possibly be real? By comparison Gohan's dad walking around and talking with people while being dead seemed perfectly normal. Erasa checked her course on her phone. Apparently she was going close to 7000 km/h now, holy shit! And she was almost there.

Within a minute Erasa saw Papaya Island. And the next moment she had already flown past it. She really was going ridiculously fast. She quickly slowed down the Nimbus and flew back to the Tournament stadium. Erasa wondered whether she should land outside to not draw attention, and then she saw bright lights and heard loud explosions coming from the stadium. It looked like Gohan's dad and Vegeta were still fighting each other. Erasa decided to land outside of the stadium, she didn't want to get hit by either of them.

Erasa stopped the Nimbus right outside the stadium entrance next to the security guards and jumped off. They both stared at her dumbfounded while the Nimbus flew off into the sky.

'Are… are you an angel?' One of the guards asked.

'Ehmm…'

'You're definitely an angel.' The other one remarked. 'A beautiful girl appearing right before me from the sky; that's gotta be divine.'

'Oh thank you.' Erasa replied giggling. 'But I'm in a bit of a hurry for angelic business, would you be so kind to let me through? I've got a ticket.'

She flashed her ticket.

'Sure thing Miss Angel, you're always welcome here.'

Erasa quickly entered the stadium while they both bowed to her. She still remembered where she'd sat before with Gohan's mom and the others, she could only hope that Videl would be with them. Erasa hurried there, and heard loud noises coming from the ring on the way there. She glanced over at the ring and saw Gohan's dad and Vegeta still fighting. There wasn't really anything left of the ring, the area was covered in scattered concrete from the ring, mixed with soil and ground. Erasa still couldn't really follow anything of their fight, they moved way too fast for Erasa to register what was happening.

Erasa quickly found the rest of Gohan's family: his mom, his little brother Goten, and his gigantic grandfather. They were sitting together with Videl, Bulma, Trunks, Master Roshi, Yamcha, a slim blonde woman, and the little girl Marron who sat on the woman's lap. And among them was also an older man Erasa recognised as the man Gohan fought first, what was his name again? Erasa had already been introduced to all of the other people earlier when Videl fought Gohan, except for the blonde woman, whom she only recognised as the woman who fought earlier while Videl was buying her new gi. And wasn't she also around when she flew off with Gohan? As Erasa approached the group, Chi-Chi noticed her.

'Erasa!'

Chi-Chi jumped over several seats to approach Erasa.

'How is Gohan doing?' Chi-Chi asked desperately. 'Where did you all go?! Where's Gohan? Is he alright?!'

'Gohan was fine the last time I saw him.' Erasa replied quickly, trying to calm Chi-Chi down, while walking to their seats. 'I came back because they asked me to tell you to get something. I think it was called Dragon Ball or something.'

'Erasa!' Videl cried out, and she hugged Erasa so tightly Erasa started to fear her spine might break. 'I was so worried! Are you alright?!'

'Videl!' Erasa struggled. 'Stop it! You're hurting me!'

Videl quickly released Erasa.

'Oh, sorry about that.'

'Hello Miss Erasa!' Goten said and he bowed to her. 'Did you have fun flying with Gohan? Flying's really cool, do you still not want to learn how to fly?'

'Goten, you're not teaching her!' Chi-Chi interrupted. 'You're grounded remember? Besides you're too young, didn't I tell you that when Miss Videl came to learn how to fly?'

'Aww but mom…'

'Did you say we should go get the Dragon Balls?' Bulma asked.

'Yeah, Gohan said we might need it as backup or something.' Erasa replied, glad with the escape from Goten. 'But I don't know what it is.'

'Let's go immediately.' Bulma decided. 'Are you and Videl coming too? Chi-Chi, what about you?'

'Well uhmm…' Chi-Chi hesitated. 'What about Goku?'

They looked at Goku and Vegeta fighting in the ring, or what was left of it. It also looked like Goku and Vegeta were both pretty worn out. Goku just charged in with another attack, again with that strange red energy surrounding him.

'They're worn out so much by now they won't endanger anyone here anymore,' the blonde woman said.

'They'll find us if they need us.' Bulma decided. 'Erasa can tell us everything on the way. I think Gohan needs us if he asks for the Dragon Balls!'

Hearing Gohan's name seemingly snapped Chi-Chi out of her hesitation.

'Goten, father, let's go!' Chi-Chi decided.

'I will come too.' The older man said.

'Okay then.' Bulma announced. 'Let's go!'

The entire group left their seats. The blonde woman approached Erasa while they were moving out.

'So you're Erasa? Videl told me a bit about you.'

'Yeah, that's me. I know Gohan from school. But I don't know your name.'

'My name is Lazuli. I am Krillin's wife, and this is our daughter Marron.'

Lazuli showed her Marron.

'She's so cute!'

'Do you know if Krillin is alright?' Lazuli asked.

'He was still alright the last I saw of him.' Erasa replied. 'I don't know what happened to him afterwards though, same with Gohan.' They were passing the security guards again.

'Good afternoon there Miss Angel,' one said. 'If you need any help on your divine business just let us know!'

'I will, thank you.' Erasa replied and she waved at them. The other one pointed to Videl and poked the first one, whispering something Erasa couldn't hear.

'Why did they call you Miss Angel?' Goten asked. 'You don't even have any wings!'

'Well, they saw me fly on Gohan's cloud.' Erasa tried to explain friendly. 'Maybe they thought I was an angel that didn't need any wings.'

Videl broke out laughing, suddenly understanding why the guards had been pointing to her, while Goten looked confused.

'Mommy, where's daddy?' Marron asked.

Lazuli picked up Marron as they were hurrying towards the airport.

'Marron, listen to me.' Lazuli said, keeping her attitude and voice confident. 'Your daddy is doing something very important right now to protect all of us from some very bad men. And daddy is one of the bravest and strongest men in the whole world! I'm sure he'll be just fine.'


	22. The Dragon Balls

Erasa and the others arrived at the airport, and Bulma uncapsuled her airplane. It was the most modern airplane Erasa had ever seen. It looked even bigger, faster, and more luxurious than the one used by Videl's dad! They all entered and quickly took off. It was very spacious inside, they all had plenty of space to move around. Yamcha was flying the plane.

'Where to Bulma?' Yamcha asked.

'One sec, just lemme…' Bulma replied while rummaging through an uncapsuled bag. 'There!'

She took out a flat circular device with a green display that Erasa had never seen before, and turned it on. Some lights started flashing on it, Erasa had no idea what it was. It felt weird, flying off with all these people she didn't even know apart from Videl. Now that she thought about it, she flew off before on a flying golden cloud when she only knew Gohan before. Or at least she thought she knew Gohan, but before today Gohan had just been the shy dorky guy from school. Compared to that, flying away with Videl in an airplane wasn't so weird at all. And compared to all the things she experienced and heard today even flying off on a magical cloud with a boy she only met a few weeks ago wasn't so weird anymore.

'I'm worried about Gohan.' Erasa whispered to Videl. 'And that's even after I saw him fight you.'

'So you _are_ falling for him aren't you?' Videl whispered back. 'I knew it.'

Erasa slapped Videl on her arm.

'No I'm not!' Erasa snapped back. 'You were worried about me too remember? You couldn't help embracing me when I came back. Maybe you're just falling for _me_ now?'

'You need to slap much harder if you want to make Miss Videl fall!' Goten interrupted. 'She's much stronger than you are Miss Erasa!'

Erasa and Videl both stared at Goten, not really knowing how to respond to his comment. Chi-Chi took the opportunity to join in.

'So what happened out there Erasa?' Chi-Chi asked. 'When you flew off with Gohan?'

'Well, we went after those zombie creeps that attacked Gohan's dad and Vegeta and then…'

Suddenly two men appeared from out of nowhere in the middle of the airplane. They looked heavily injured.

'Goku!' Chi-Chi exclaimed. Now that Erasa looked closer she recognised the two men as Gohan's dad and Vegeta. Their clothes were a mess, torn and bloody everywhere. Erasa was surprised they were still in one piece.

'Hey dad!' Goten screamed exitedly. 'How did you just appear like that? You must be even faster than Gohan! And Gohan's super-fast!'

'Hey Goten!' Goku replied smiling but weakened. 'It's the Instant Transmission, I can move to wherever I want if I can sense someone's ki.'

'Wooooooooow!' Goten screamed in excitement. 'That's so cool! Can you teach me how to do that? Please?!'

'I'm afraid not Goten, it took me over a year to learn this, and I have to go back after today.' Goku replied, rubbing his hand over Goten's head. Goten looked down disappointed. Erasa wasn't sure if it was not getting to learn Goku's Instant Transmission or having to say goodbye to his father forever at the end of the day that made Goten sad. It was probably both. Erasa was disturbed from her thoughts by Chi-Chi.

'What's going on Goku?!' Chi-Chi cried out. 'Are you alright?'

'I'll be fine Chi-Chi.' Goku replied carefree. 'Bulma, Vegeta said you have Senzu?'

Bulma searched her bag and retrieved a small pouch that she handed to Goku. He took something out of the pouch Erasa couldn't see, handed it to Vegeta and also put something in his mouth. He then handed the pouch back to Bulma. As Goku ate, whatever it was, his wounds appeared to heal themselves immediately. Vegeta also ate and healed completely.

'Thanks Bulma!' Goku said. He suddenly sounded much healthier. Apart from his clothes still being literally a bloody mess it looked like he hadn't even been in a fight at all. 'We've gotta go again. King Kai says Krillin and the others need us. He says there're some real strong guys there to fight. Bye!'

'Wait Goku!' Bulma called out loudly. 'What the hell's going on?!'

Vegeta grabbed onto Goku at the last moment as they both vanished into thin air again, leaving nothing but stains of blood and soil behind on the floor.

'Goku! Vegeta!' Bulma screamed furiously. 'They should have taken the Senzu with them! Maybe the others need some too! Those idiots!'

'Ehmm, what just happened?' Videl said, asking the question that was also on Erasa's mind.

Bulma showed the pouch to Videl and Erasa. It contained a couple of plain-looking beans.

'These beans are called Senzu.' Bulma explained. 'They're magical beans that restore physical injuries and energy levels when consumed. I brought some along for today, just in case Goku and Vegeta went too far at the Tournament.'

'Something must have gone wrong if Gohan's dad and Vegeta had to go and help.' Erasa said worryingly.

'Nobody can beat my big brother!' Goten argued angrily at Erasa. 'Especially when he goes Super Saiyan, then he's even stronger than dad! That King Kai guy must have it all wrong!'

'What do you mean, when he goes Super Saiyan?' Videl asked.

'You know, like this!'

Goten suddenly transformed into that mysterious golden-haired state, and Erasa felt heat emanating from Goten's body, and a small breeze started going around in the airplane. Erasa saw the older guy Gohan had fought stare wide-eyed at Goten, and she and Videl could also hardly believe their eyes. Despite having seen Gohan do it before, it was still a very weird thing to experience. What was it?

A phone started to ring. It was Videl's phone. Videl looked who it was, but pressed ignore and put it away.

'Who was that?' Erasa whispered.

'My dad, I don't wanna talk to him.' Videl replied.

'That lying scumbag doesn't deserve your attention.' Erasa whispered back.

'Please continue your story Erasa, what happened?' Chi-Chi asked desperately. 'Oh, I hope Gohan's alright!'

'Of course Gohan's fine!' Goten exclaimed, and Erasa suddenly felt a strong gust of wind emanating from Goten. She had to steady herself to prevent toppling over. The air around his body started to glow gold too. 'Gohan won't lose to anyone!'

'Calm down Goten.' Chi-Chi said. 'And stop being Super Saiyan, you almost made Miss Erasa fall over!'

Goten stared angrily at his mother, and his mother stared back with a powerful look of authority. Goten gave in and changed back to his regular state.

'Thank you Goten.' Chi-Chi said kindly and she hugged her youngest son. 'I hope you're right Goten, I really do. But finish your story Erasa.'

Everyone in the airplane except for Yamcha huddled around Erasa, eager to hear what kind of adventures she had been on with Gohan and the others. Erasa told them all what had happened after she and Gohan flew off at the Tournament area. She told them the story that Kaio-Shin told her about Bibbidy, about Bobbidy, about the zombie creeps that Bobbidy was using, and about Majin Buu.

Chi-Chi looked increasingly worried as Erasa told her story, and Erasa couldn't blame her. From the sounds of it that Bobbidy guy and that Majin Buu were really dangerous, apparently they had destroyed entire planets in the past. Their powers were all pretty incomprehensible to her, and she had no idea how well Gohan would match up. Would Gohan really be able to fight guys that could destroy planets? It seemed absolutely ludicrous, even after everything she had already seen today. How could people be that strong?

'We're close to the first one now!' Yamcha called out. 'We're gonna land!'

'The first what?' Videl asked.

'The first Dragon Ball.' Bulma answered. She showed the green circular device that she took out of her bag earlier. 'This is a Dragon Radar. I invented it myself when I was your age. It detects the energy emitted by Dragon Balls so we can find them easily.'

'But what IS a Dragon Ball?!' Videl asked annoyed. Erasa had no idea either. All she knew was that Gohan wanted them to get Dragon Balls.

'Dragon Balls are magical balls.' Bulma explained. 'There are seven of them in total on Earth. And if you bring them all together, you can summon the Eternal Dragon, who will grant you almost any wish you want.'

'I remember it was two wishes.' Lazuli said. 'I've only seen the Dragon once though, right after the Cell Games, but it granted two wishes back then.'

'If you already had all the Dragon Balls collected, why are we collecting them again now?' Erasa asked.

'After the Dragon has granted the wishes the Dragon Balls scatter across the entire Earth, and become inactive for a year.' Bulma explained as their vehicle landed. 'Only after that year the Dragon Balls start working again and can be used for another summoning.'

'And those wishes can help us out, like destroy those zombie creeps or Bobbidy?' Erasa asked as they exited the vehicle.

'I certainly hope so.' Bulma replied. 'Let's go and find that first Dragon Ball!'

'How does it look like?'

'They look like orange balls, about the size of a baseball, with red stars inside them. The amount of stars varies from ball to ball.'

Erasa looked around. It looked like they'd landed on a tropical beach. There was no sign of civilisation anywhere around them. It was considerably warmer than it had been at the Tournament area, and it looked like the sun shone higher too.

'Where are we?'

Yamcha answered her while Bulma was already walking off with the Dragon Radar.

'We're about mid-way in between West City and South City.'

Goten and Trunks had also exited the airplane and flew around looking for the Dragon Ball.

'Don't go too far!' Gohan's grandfather called out at them. Videl poked Erasa.

'You think this stuff about a wish-granting dragon is actually true?'

'I dunno, I'd totally call it bullshit if not for all the other crazy stuff I've seen today.' Erasa replied. 'Do you think there's any chance Gohan can fight guys that can destroy planets?'

'I don't know.' Videl said seriously, thinking about it. 'I'm pretty sure Gohan held back tremendously when he fought me. I felt him and Goten getting much stronger when they do that golden-haired thing. And Gohan has done this ki control thing since he was only four years old.' Videl said, trying to convince herself as much as trying to reassure Erasa. 'I mean, look at how much I improved in only three weeks learning about ki. How strong could you get after so many years of experience?'

Videl's phone rang again. It was her dad, Videl pressed the ignore button for a second time and put her phone away.

'Well there's someone who definitely can't fight guys that can destroy planets.'

Yamcha joined them.

'I don't know how strong his opponents are.' Yamcha said, evidently having heard their conversation. 'But Cell was also capable of destroying planets. And Gohan destroyed Cell. Gohan is not someone you should underestimate, he's incredibly strong.'

'But then why would Gohan's dad and Vegeta be called to help?' Erasa asked. 'That Kaio-Shin guy told me he'd rather not have them know about it. Something must have gone wrong!'

'Don't take me wrong, I'm worried about Gohan and Krillin too, and Piccolo and Ten of course.' Yamcha said. 'But I pity whoever has to fight Gohan, Vegeta, and Goku together. You may think you've seen how strong they are at the Tournament, but Goku and Vegeta can go Super Saiyan too, on top of their normal powers.'

'What is it exactly, going Super Saiyan?' Videl asked. 'I know it's the golden-haired thing, but what is it really?'

Erasa noticed that familiar look of determination in Videl's eyes. She knew that Videl wouldn't stop at anything until she had figured this Super Saiyan stuff out. Erasa tried to imagine Videl with golden hair that would rise into the air, it looked kind of hot and hilarious at the same time. _Maybe I should ask Gohan to teach me how to do it too._

'I don't know much honestly.' Yamcha replied. 'Bulma or Gohan are probably able to explain it much better to you. All I know is that it makes them much stronger. It increases their ki supply somehow.'

Bulma popped up.

'Here, take a look! This is a Dragon Ball!'

Bulma held out a small orange ball and gave it to Erasa. It looked somewhat transparent, as if you could see inside it, but not through it, and it had a very faint golden glow, not unlike the glow she'd seen being emitted from Gohan and Goten when they transformed. It looked like there were five red stars inside the ball. Erasa turned the ball around, wanting to see how the stars looked from the side, but it looked like the red stars always aligned themselves immediately with her eyes. She couldn't look at it from the side. Erasa had never seen anything like it before. Erasa wondered if there was a magical dragon inside the Dragon Ball that was just trolling her by moving those stars.

'How come I can't look at it from the side?' Erasa asked, handing it over to Videl.

'It always looks like you're looking straight at the stars for everyone.' Bulma replied while Videl examined the Dragon Ball. 'I've even tried that with mirrors and cameras. I'm not sure why, it must be the Ball's magic.'

'That's so weird.' Videl said intrigued.

'Let's go again, we still have six more to find!' Bulma said.

They flew off again.

'Hey Yamcha, the next one is to the west, I think it's somewhere in the ocean.' Bulma said, handing him the Dragon Radar.

'Bulma?' Videl asked.

'Hmm?'

'Yamcha said you might be able to explain what this Super Saiyan thing is.'

'I'm assuming Gohan hasn't told you anything about it?'

Videl shook her head.

'What do you already know about it?'

'Only that it turns your hair gold and makes you stronger.'

Bulma sighed.

'It doesn't surprise me Gohan hasn't told you, he just wanted to fit in. What you've got to understand though is that a lot is still unknown about ki. I don't have all the answers either. But I'll start with the stuff we _do_ know.'

'You see, Goku and Vegeta… they're not really human.'

'They look human to me.' Erasa said, remembering how different Kaio-Shin and Kibito looked from regular humans.

'For a long time everyone thought Goku was human… well, he was ridiculously strong and he had a tail back then, but still… anyway, Goku and Vegeta are actually from a different planet. They are humanoids called Saiyans, which are similar to humans. From what I can tell their bodies are more accustomed to heavy combat compared to ours, being able to advance their ki levels and train much faster than we can. And the Super Saiyan transformation adds even more to that power.'

'So only Saiyans can do that Super Saiyan transformation?'

'As far as I can tell yes.'

'So Gohan's a Saiyan too?' Videl asked. 'He's not a human?'

'Gohan, Goten, and Trunks are all half-human, half-Saiyan, having human mothers and Saiyan fathers.'

'I don't really believe that.' Erasa said. 'There's no way Gohan's an alien.'

'I don't think Gohan wants to be seen like that either.' Bulma said. 'Instinctively Saiyans have a love for fighting, always seeking out stronger opponents to fight. They always feel that desire, and their bodies also grow in strength rapidly when subject to heavy combat. You can see that with Goku and Vegeta, jumping straight to the opportunity to fight each other and to fight Bobbidy. But Gohan's different, I can't recall him ever saying he liked fighting.'

'But they seem so… normal.' Erasa said.

'You said the Kaio-Shin guy said they were responsible for creating life in the universe?' Videl interrupted.

'Uhmm, yeah?'

'Maybe the guy who made the humans also made the Saiyans and was just too lazy to think of a different design.' Videl said flatly.

Bulma broke out laughing.

'That's definitely possible.' Bulma said. 'One possibility I always considered is that maybe Saiyans and humans have the same ancestors. We just somehow got divided on different planets and evolved in somewhat different directions.'

'If that's the case shouldn't we also be able to do something like that Super Saiyan transformation?' Videl asked. 'I mean, if we're similar enough to reproduce together…'

'A good question.' Bulma said. 'The only thing against it is that all five Saiyans or Saiyan hybrids I know can do it and I've never even heard of a pure human doing it. But why it only seems to work for them, I've got no idea. There's still so little we actually know about ki, and even less about the transformation. The only thing I really know is that the transformation greatly multiplies the amount of ki they can use, and the speed at which their ki recovers in battle.'

'We're there.' Yamcha called. 'Prepare for landing!'


	23. Retreat

'There they are!' Kaio-Shin announced, and Krillin saw them too. Yamu and Spopovitch had touched down and were joined by a third figure. It was time to put the plan into action.

Krillin moved ahead, keeping the others behind him, and focused his ki into his hands.

'Taio-Ken!'

Krillin released the ki, controlling it to release all the energy as light to make the blinding effect as powerful as possible. As he opened his eyes again, Tenshinhan overtook him and formed a square with his hands.

'KIKOHO!'

Krillin was forced back by the force of Tenshinhan's Kikoho. Krillin had seen the attack a few times in the past, but was still surprised each time by the absolutely devastating power it wielded. As Krillin looked back down, there was a gaping square-shaped hole in the ground where those figures stood before. Krillin could no longer sense Yamu, Spopovitch, or the third guy, they had all been vaporised in the blast without ever seeing it coming.

It might not have been particularly honourable or fair to do it like that, but Krillin had experienced enough battles with deadly foes to know that honour was secondary to survival and effectivity, especially when it came to the survival of the entire Earth.

As Krillin looked better, he saw another figure was floating above the hole, one that was carrying the two devices Spopovitch and Yamu had used to steal the energy.

'He saved the energy!' Piccolo said. 'Is that Bobbidy?'

'No.' Kaio-Shin replied. 'That's not Bobbidy either. That's Dabura, a MaKaio-Shin. I never expected him to be here too. The Demon Realm shouldn't even know about this entire ordeal!'

'Is he on our side?' Piccolo asked.

'I doubt it. He would have contacted me if he was. But I don't understand why he would be helping Bobbidy.'

'Could Bobbidy have manipulated him?' Gohan asked.

'That's a possibility.'

Two more figures appeared from the gaping hole in the ground. One looked like a hunched dark green monster, the other like an orange humanoid. Kaio-Shin recognised one of them.

'That's Bobbidy! We've got to attack now!'

Kaio-Shin rushed in at high speed, and Piccolo followed quickly with Tenshinhan close behind. Krillin realised he had to fight too, he rushed in closely after Tenshinhan.

Kaio-Shin managed to get the first attack in on the orange humanoid. That one must be Bobbidy! The other two figures interfered, and Piccolo got knocked back far by Dabura while the green monster blocked the way of Tenshinhan and Krillin.

In an instant, Krillin decided he had to help Tenshinhan out. Piccolo got knocked in the direction of Gohan, and Gohan was the strongest among them, while Krillin couldn't leave Tenshinhan alone. As the green monster got knocked away by Tenshinhan, Krillin followed in close pursuit. Kibito chose to go after Bobbidy with Kaio-Shin. If they managed to outnumber their opponents two-to-one they could probably pull this off!

Tenshinhan looked back at Krillin and grabbed the monster by its foot. He tossed the monster towards Krillin. Krillin quickly responded by knocking the monster down into the ground.

'You'll have to cover me Krillin!' Tenshinhan breathed hard. 'The Kikoho always takes a lot out of me, I don't think I can pull off another one this fight.'

'Right.' Krillin said nervously. 'Let's end this quickly, the others might need our help too.'

Krillin sensed the monster's ki ascending from the ground to attack him. He concentrated his energy and launched his Taio-Ken at it to blind it. Immediately after blinding the monster, Krillin moved out of the way, leaving his after-image behind, and landed on the ground.

'Keep it busy!' Krillin called at Tenshinhan. He looked up and saw Tenshinhan move around quickly, leaving behind after-images of his own. Meanwhile, Krillin focused and stored his energy above his right hand, trying to concentrate it into a disc. The monster had already moved through Krillin's after-image, and now already recovered from the blinding effect, it noticed it was surrounded by Tenshinhan's after-image technique. But instead of being fooled, the monster descended immediately down to Krillin. Krillin did not understand how the monster had recovered from the blinding effect so quickly, but he had no time to think about that.

'Kienzan!'

Krillin threw the energy disc at the monster, trying to slice it apart. But the monster managed to dodge it. Tenshinhan, who had been lurking to strike the monster into Krillin's Kienzan attack, had to swerve out of the way of Krillin's attack too. Krillin managed to jump out of the way of the monster's attack at the last second, leaving behind another after-image. Tenshinhan closed in and attacked the monster from behind, kicking it in the lower back with a lot of force.

'Out of the way!' Krillin exclaimed. Krillin concentrated and launched his Kamehameha wave straight at the monster right as Tenshinhan bounced off the monster. A big explosion ensued, knocking Tenshinhan back. It looked to be a direct hit. But Krillin still sensed the monster's ki. It was moving around underground.

'Watch out!' Tenshinhan exclaimed. 'It's not over yet!'

'It looks like this monster can't attack from a distance.' Krillin said. 'We can use that to our advantage.'

The ground started shaking violently, and Krillin sensed a very large amount of ki not too far away.

'Woa, is that monster that strong?' Krillin exclaimed.

'No!' Tenshinhan replied loudly, looking into the distance. 'That's Gohan's power, it suddenly skyrocketed!'

Krillin now sensed it too. It was definitely Gohan's power, his ki was diffusing throughout the air everywhere around them. What was all that ki doing here?

'What's Gohan doing?' Krillin called out. 'I can't sense that monster anymore, Gohan's ki is too strong! Has he lost control or something?'

'No!' Tenshinhan replied loudly, looking in Gohan's direction. 'This is just a side effect, Gohan's using way more than this!'

That didn't sound good. Things were always dire when Gohan used most of his power.

'Let's finish this right now, I think Gohan needs our help!'

'Right!'

Tenshinhan turned his attention down, scanning the shaking ground with his three sharp eyes. Where was that green monster? Krillin saw it come up behind Tenshinhan, in his blind side.

'It's behind you!'

Tenshinhan turned around just in time to see the monster attack. But the monster suddenly extended sharp spikes from its front legs. Fortunately, it looked like the monster was just being blinded at the last second, startling it and slowing it down. Tenshinhan barely managed to avoid its attack. Looking behind him, Krillin saw an enormous energy beam flying towards the sky. That was Gohan's attack! The energy must have been so intense it was blinding that monster. What unbelievable luck! Krillin hoped it was sufficient to finish off that Dabura guy Gohan and Piccolo had been fighting.

 _This is no time to be wandering around, Tenshinhan needs your help Krillin!_

Krillin looked back at Tenshinhan and saw it was being pursued by the monster. As the monster extended its spikes again to slice at Tenshinhan, the latter caught the spikes in his hands, stopping them mere centimetres in front of his chest. Krillin closed in fast. What were those spikes? They looked like some sort of claws or horns.

'Grab its feet!' Tenshinhan exclaimed, noticing Krillin's approach. Krillin quickly grabbed the monster's feet to immobilise it, keeping it in a lock together with Tenshinhan having its spikes. But how were they going to take it out? Krillin trusted Tenshinhan had a plan.

'Now don't let it go Krillin, no matter what!' Tenshinhan commanded.

The monster was struggling heavily trying to break free, Krillin had to use all of his power to keep it immobilised. Meanwhile, Krillin sensed Tenshinhan concentrating his energy in his back, dividing it between holding the monster's spikes and his back. Looking up, Krillin saw two limbs growing from Tenshinhan's back, and the limbs slowly formed into arms as Tenshinhan pushed more of his ki into it.

'Keep holding it Krillin!'

Tenshinhan moved his new pair of hands above the monster, and attacked the root of the spikes with powerful chopping attacks. As soon as he made contact, Tenshinhan managed to break the spikes, separating them from the monster's body.

'Awesome Ten!' Krillin proclaimed. Tenshinhan followed with several powerful kicks to the monsters torso, and nodded to Krillin. Krillin understood what Tenshinhan was about to do, and went for a toss, throwing the monster away. Meanwhile, Tenshinhan flipped the monster's spikes in his lower hands and went in for the assault. He sped up considerably, and as the monster slowed down trying to recover from Tenshinhan's kicks, Tenshinhan slashed the monster in four with its own spikes. Krillin followed up and launched his Kamehameha wave at the monster's head.

'Incoming!' Krillin shouted, and Tenshinhan moved out of the way. Krillin's Kamehameha wave disintegrated the monster's head completely. Krillin knew they had eradicated that monster.

'Great job Krillin!' Tenshinhan proclaimed, breathing heavily.

'You too!' Krillin said relieved. 'Let's find the others!'

'I can't sense Piccolo anymore.' Tenshinhan said worried.

'Me neither.' Krillin said. 'But Gohan's strength is stronger than ever again! Maybe he's just clouding Piccolo's ki? Let's go and help him!'

'What about Kaio-Shin and Bobbidy?' Tenshinhan countered. 'If we don't stop Bobbidy, Majin Buu gets released and we'll have a much bigger problem on our hands. We'll have to trust Gohan and Piccolo that they can fend for themselves! Stopping Bobbidy is more important now!'

Krillin considered this. He had to admit Tenshinhan was right. Every fibre in his body wanted him to go and help Gohan out, abandoning Gohan felt incredibly wrong. But stopping Bobbidy was more important.

'You're right.' Krillin admitted. They quickly flew to where they launched their first attack. Krillin didn't sense Kaio-Shin or Kibito at all anymore, and he still couldn't sense Piccolo's ki either. In the distance he sensed Gohan's enormous energy, clearly in heavy combat.

'Let's hide low and see what's going on.' Krillin said to Tenshinhan. They both landed in between some rocks close to the hole Tenshinhan's Kikoho had made earlier. They supressed their ki consumption and tried to sense the others. Gohan's energy seemed to be dwindling down in the distance; hopefully he had beaten Dabura. Now that Gohan's energy wasn't clouding everything else anymore, Krillin sensed two other energies in the hole below, but neither of them belonged to Kaio-Shin or Piccolo.

'I still can't sense Piccolo, Kibito, or Kaio-Shin.' Tenshinhan said quietly. 'But I do sense two strange energies down there, as if they're incomplete. I've never sensed anything like it.'

'Maybe it's Bobbidy and Majin Buu.' Krillin said shaking. 'Maybe we can only sense their halves from this world, and not their demonic halves. I haven't been able to sense this Dabura guy at all, which is strange considering how much energy Gohan had to put out.'

'I hope you're wrong.' Tenshinhan replied. 'We're probably pretty screwed if Majin Buu's really released.'

'Well, if it _is_ Majin Buu, we need to join forces with Gohan immediately.' Krillin whispered. 'There's no way we can beat both Bobbidy and Majin Buu on our own. Remember that Kaio-Shin said Bobbidy was about as strong as Cell?'

'Alright then, I'm with you.'

* * *

Gohan tried to get up in between the foliage but fell down again. He felt dizzy and dazed after that enormous blast when his ki mixed with Dabura's firebreath. Still lying down in between the foliage, Gohan looked up and saw two beings had appeared. One was the humanoid being he had seen before with the orange skin, presumably that was Bobbidy, and the other was a new being he hadn't seen before. Its skin was completely pink, it looked somewhat humanoid, but also monstrous. It was huge, Gohan estimated it about two-and-a-half metres tall. It also looked really fat, and had a weird curved horn on its head. It wore very loose white sweatpants and a black vest that seemed at least twenty sizes too small, as well as a purple cape. The orange and pink humanoids were emanating those weird incomplete kis. Was this pink monster Majin Buu, or some other monster?

Gohan's emotions seemed to have died down somewhat after the blast, and he started to feel the full impact of his injuries now. Still injured, Gohan decided the best thing to do was to lie low and see what would happen. He had already had a lot of trouble fighting Dabura, fighting three foes at once while injured would be suicidal. It would be heroic, but also useless and really stupid. Gohan noticed he had already changed back into his regular form without realising it and he tried to suppress his ki emission to hide himself. Dabura appeared to fly up to the two humanoids, and it looked like Dabura's jaw had recovered again. The three appeared to have entered conversation, but Gohan could not hear what was said.

Gohan suddenly felt two faint traces of ki approaching him low to the ground. Looking sideways, Gohan saw Krillin and Tenshinhan approach him. They appeared to be alright.

'Krillin!' Gohan proclaimed quietly. 'Tenshinhan! I'm so glad you two are alright!'

'Gohan!' Krillin whispered back. 'What the hell happened to you, you look like a wreck, and you're the strongest of us all!'

'That Dabura guy, he's … really strong.' Gohan managed to bring out. His head was still spinning. 'Piccolo….'

Krillin looked at Gohan, and from Gohan's face Krillin could already tell what had happened. Gohan saw the anger and frustration form on Krillin's face that he also felt himself.

'Fuck!' Tenshinhan said quietly. 'Everything went wrong!'

'Kaio-Shin…' Gohan brought out. 'What happened to Kaio-Shin?'

'He died.' Tenshinhan said frustrated. 'Bobbidy must have killed both him and Kibito while we were busy fighting that green monster. By the time we got rid of that monster we could no longer sense them and Bobbidy was already releasing Majin Buu, there was nothing we could do!'

'We should get out of here and get Gohan some help.' Krillin decided. 'If we have to fight them to save the Earth, I'd much rather do it with a recovered Gohan than with a Gohan that's in critical condition.'

'How are we gonna get out of here with those three above us?' Tenshinhan argued. 'They'll spot us!'

Krillin looked up to Bobbidy, Majin Buu, and Dabura.

'It looks like they're arguing with each other.' Krillin said, and he was right. It definitely didn't look like they were looking for them. 'If we stay low and hide our ki we might get away without being spotted.'

'Alright then, let's go.' Tenshinhan said reluctantly, and he lifted Gohan up from the ground. 'I don't think we've got any other option.'

Krillin and Tenshinhan started to slowly fly low to the ground, with Tenshinhan carrying Gohan.

'Where are we going Krillin?'

'Bulma brought some Senzu to the Tournament.' Krillin said. 'According to her you never know with Vegeta and Goku around.'

Gohan suddenly realised something.

'Didn't Erasa go to find Dragon Balls with Bulma? They probably won't be at the Tournament anymore.'

'Oh yeah, that's right. We'll just have to intercept them on their way.' Krillin said. 'They might need to get the Dragon Radar first. That should still be in West City, not too far from here.'

They started to fly to the north-east, towards West City. But they barely managed to fly half a kilometre when Goku and Vegeta suddenly appeared in front of them. Almost immediately, Gohan felt those weird incomplete kis from Bobbidy and Majin Buu approaching them. They must have sensed them! Gohan couldn't look behind from the position that Tenshinhan was carrying him, but he assumed that Dabura was also with them, still impossible to be sensed.

'Goku!' Krillin proclaimed.

'Hey guys! What's going on?' Goku said cheerfully, and then he saw the state Gohan was in, and real concern and shock appeared on Goku's face.

'Gohan!'

'They're coming father.' Gohan exclaimed weakly. 'They're really strong!'

Goku and Vegeta looked back and saw, well, whoever was approaching that Gohan couldn't see.

'Cover us while we get Gohan some help!' Krillin commanded to Goku. 'They, they, they killed Piccolo!'

Goku looked back to Krillin in shock, and the anger on Goku's face intensified. Vegeta focused and transformed. The ki Gohan felt from Vegeta as he transformed was insane, the energy that he was radiating out was exciting the air around him so much it started sparking like lightning.

'I'll take care of this myself!' Vegeta said harshly.

Goku concentrated on the fight at hand too, and transformed. The air around him also started sparking lightning, perhaps even more so than for Vegeta.

'Krillin, Ten!' Goku said. 'Go now! We'll take care of this!'

Tenshinhan and Krillin immediately flew off with Gohan, leaving Goku and Vegeta behind. Gohan's head was still spinning and the pain of the stab wound in his abdomen was really becoming unbearable.

'Father… please win this one...' Gohan stammered, even though his father could no longer hear him. 'I want to say goodbye to you… you know… before you go back.'


	24. Raging Questions

'I really hope Goku and Vegeta can beat them.' Krillin said. 'I've got no idea how strong those guys are, but if they could do this to Gohan…'

'You've fought that Dabura guy Gohan,' Tenshinhan said. 'Do you think they stand a chance?'

'I don't know.' Gohan struggled painfully. 'If it was just Dabura, sure. But I don't know how strong those other two are.'

'We'd better hurry.' Tenshinhan said. 'The sooner we get Gohan a Senzu, the better.'

'I'm starting to get scared of Chi-Chi's response.' Krillin hesitated. 'How do you think she'll react if she sees Gohan like this?'

Neither Tenshinhan nor Gohan replied. Gohan knew his mother would probably freak out, but Gohan wasn't too concerned about his mother's reaction. He was more concerned with his own performance today. He couldn't get the image of Dabura appearing from that weird gateway behind Piccolo out of his head. After that he had been much stronger than Dabura, but before Piccolo's death...

Gohan knew that he gained strength through his own anger, he had experienced that several times in the past. But it seemed to only occur to him, not to other people. Other people seemed perfectly capable bringing out their full strength even without that emotional requirement. Gohan had never understood why. And Gohan realised it was a big weakness. He could summon enormous power when he was angry, but unfortunately that anger would also cloud his judgement and cause him to make fatal errors. Gohan couldn't figure it out, why did his power work this way?

'I can sense Yamcha and the others ahead of us, they're not too far from here.' Tenshinhan said.

'I can sense them too!' Krillin proclaimed. 'Let's go quick!'

Within a few minutes Gohan saw Bulma's airplane descending towards the sea. It dove underwater.

'They went underwater!' Tenshinhan exclaimed.

'There's probably a Dragon Ball down there.' Krillin said. 'I'll get them back up.'

Krillin quickly flew into the water, leaving Tenshinhan and Gohan behind. Within half a minute, Gohan saw Krillin and Bulma's airplane surfacing again. Tenshinhan quickly flew down to the airplane carrying Gohan as the airplane door opened. Krillin immediately approached Bulma, while Marron ran to Krillin.

'Daddy!'

Krillin quickly picked up his daughter and hugged her, while addressing Bulma.

'Bulma, you have Senzu right?'

Bulma noticed Tenshinhan carrying Gohan.

'Oh my God what the hell happened out there?!' Bulma exclaimed, and she started frantically searching her pockets. Chi-Chi and Erasa noticed Gohan as well.

'GOHAN!' Chi-Chi and Erasa cried out in unison. Immediately after, Chi-Chi suddenly fainted. Gohan's grandfather and Goten quickly hunched over her to see if she was alright.

'Mom!' Goten exclaimed terrified. 'Are you okay?'

Gohan's grandfather quickly put his enormous arm around Goten, trying to calm him down.

'Where did I leave those Senzu?' Bulma mumbled worryingly, surprisingly indifferent to Chi-Chi's fainting.

'You handed them to me.' Videl quickly said, and she retrieved a pouch from her pocket. Tenshinhan landed next to Videl.

'How many of these do you need?'

'Just one should be fine.' Tenshinhan replied, and Videl handed Gohan a single bean.

'Holy shit Gohan… you look atrocious, what the hell happened to you?'

Gohan took the Senzu with his left hand and ate the magical bean. He immediately felt the healing effects of the Senzu. His stab wound sealed and healed, his right arm stopped hurting and mended the bone fracture, and he also felt his energy returning. The pain quickly lessened and disappeared. In the meantime, Krillin started telling everyone what had happened.

* * *

'…Gohan was in no state to fight anymore when we found him, he needed help, so we had to retreat.' Krillin concluded. 'And then we ran into Goku and Vegeta, they're fighting right now.'

'That was probably for the best.' Master Roshi said. 'You did good coming back. But I can't help but worry about what kind of opponent could have done so much damage to Gohan. And what happened to Piccolo, wasn't he with you too?'

Gohan realised he hadn't told anyone in detail about his fight with Dabura alongside Piccolo yet. It was very difficult to talk about, and Master Roshi's mention of Piccolo didn't make it any easier. He had messed up big time, if only he had actual control of his powers…

'I should go back…' Gohan said weakly. 'I made a mess of things, I have to fix this. Father's out there fighting, I should go help him.'

'Gohan wait!' Master Roshi said sharply. Gohan froze. 'I sense doubt in you. And you haven't told us what happened to you yet.'

Gohan did not reply. How could he tell them it was because of him Piccolo was gone? He couldn't even get it out of his mouth that Piccolo was gone! If only he could go back and beat those guys, at least something good would come out of this.

'What is your plan Gohan?' Master Roshi asked. 'You want to go back, and your goals are noble and fair, but hurrying into a war against dangerous foes without a plan is foolish, especially when your mind is filled with doubt.'

'So what am I supposed to do?!' Gohan snapped back. 'Just sit out here and do nothing while my father and Vegeta are fighting for us?! How is doing nothing going to help?!'

Erasa flinched from Gohan's outburst, and Goten suddenly grabbed Gohan's arm.

'Please don't go Gohan.' Goten cried. 'Those guys are really mean if they did that to you! I don't want you to get hurt again! And seeing you like that hurts mom too!'

Gohan's grandfather also joined in the conversation.

'Please listen to Master Roshi Gohan. He knows what he's talking about, he always gave good advice to your father and me.'

Seeing Goten so worried, his mother still fainted, and both his grandfather and his brother begging him to stay, it broke Gohan's will to fight. How could he abandon his family while his mother was still down?

'Alright then, I'll stay for now and make a plan.' Gohan surrendered.

'Let's go and look for that Dragon Ball in the meantime.' Yamcha said. 'And you can tell us what happened in the meantime, maybe we can help with that plan of yours.'

'Right on it!' Bulma said determined, and she quickly took control of the airplane to submerge it back underwater.

Now that Gohan was expected to tell his story, hesitation struck again. How could he tell them he messed up? That it was because of him Piccolo was dead?

'Just start at the beginning Gohan.' Krillin said kindly. 'Was that Dabura guy simply too strong?'

'No he wasn't.' Gohan replied while mindlessly fiddling with his hands. 'I just couldn't… you know… summon my power.'

'What do you mean Gohan?' Goten asked confused. 'You can use your power just fine when you train with me!'

'I don't understand it myself.' Gohan replied. 'I can use my ki just fine, but how do I put this, I can't use all of my power at will.'

'You mean like when you get stronger when you get angry?' Krillin asked. Gohan nodded, tears forming in his eyes.

'I couldn't summon that power, I just couldn't.' Gohan said. 'And then Dabura killed Piccolo and then…'

Gohan broke down in crying.

'Gohan…' Erasa said, her voice shaking. She suddenly hugged Gohan, startling him in his cries. 'I'm so sorry Gohan.'

Gohan didn't understand. Why was Erasa hugging him? He didn't feel like he deserved her sympathy. Gohan noticed Erasa was also crying. Why would she be crying? She hardly knew Piccolo. Feeling grateful but undeserving, Gohan awkwardly responded to Erasa's hug, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, and they were crying together.

'I'm sorry Gohan, I'm such a mess.' Erasa said sobbing. 'I just can't keep it together when I see you so upset. I should be strong for you, I'm a worthless friend that doesn't understand anything about all this freaky ki stuff. All I can do is cry a lot!'

'That's not true.' Gohan replied in tears. 'You told everyone, you started collecting the Dragon Balls with the others!'

After what simultaneously felt like an eternity and not even a second Gohan and Erasa released each other again.

'So what happened after Piccolo died?' Master Roshi asked. 'I understand it's difficult to talk about, but you don't have to do everything alone.'

Gohan, calmed down a bit after Erasa's hug, told them how he had suddenly been able to summon his power, seemingly out of nowhere. He told them how he had chased after Dabura and come so close to destroying him. But in his emotion and anger, he had gotten careless and got stabbed without seeing it coming. Telling that broke him down again.

'I just can't fight!' Gohan cried out. 'Either I'm too weak or I'm so filled with anger I'm making such stupid mistakes!'

'Tell us what happened after that Gohan.' Videl interrupted, breaking Gohan's stream of self-condemning thoughts. 'Your arm was also broken, did Dabura do that too?'

Gohan nodded and told them how he had gotten back up after getting stabbed, how he had fought back against Dabura, how he had still almost destroyed him again, and told them how he forgot about Dabura's fire attack, causing that massive explosion that broke his arm.

'…and then Krillin and Tenshinhan found me before I could get back up.' Gohan concluded.

'It sounds like that Dabura guy must be pretty hurt after all of that too.' Videl said.

'He could regenerate his body somehow.' Gohan said. 'He's probably already healed again.'

'If your dad and Vegeta haven't finished him off already while he was still hurt.' Videl retaliated.

They were all startled by Bulma's outcry.

'There it is!'

She pointed out the window. They were at the bottom of the ocean, Gohan hadn't even realised their descent in his emotion. In the outside darkness there was a subtle glow of a Dragon Ball.

'How are we going to get it?' Trunks asked. 'Won't we all get wet if we open the door here?'

'You'll see.' Bulma answered, and she addressed the group. 'Anyone up for getting it? I've got diving gear on board.'

'I'll get it!' Videl said quickly.

'What happened?' Chi-Chi said weakly. She had woken up again.

'You fainted dear.' Gohan's grandfather said. 'But Gohan's alright now, see?'

Chi-Chi looked at Gohan and his messed up clothes. She noticed the blood stains on the floor.

'Gohan!' She cried out. 'Don't ever scare me like that again! What happened to you?!'

Gohan really didn't want to tell the entire story again, especially to his mother. She wouldn't want to hear details of how her oldest son almost got killed. Gohan's grandfather quickly took his daughter aside.

'It's a long story dear.' He said quietly. 'It's basically like this…'

In the meantime, Bulma had helped Videl into a diving suit and explained to her how to enter and leave the vehicle.

'Alright, I'll be right back!' Videl said confidently. She stepped into the pressure chamber which would be filled with water. Within a minute, Videl swam outside in Bulma's diving suit.

'Hey Videl, can you hear us?' Bulma said out loud in the airplane cabin while a screen was descending from the ceiling. Videl's reply was heard clearly inside.

'Yeah, I can hear you well. Can you hear me too?'

'Much better! We can also see what you're seeing.' Bulma replied, turning on the screen. It was primarily black as it was so dark outside.

'You won't be seeing much then.' Videl said grimly. 'It's dark out here!'

Videl swam around looking for the Dragon Ball.

'It's in front of the airplane Videl!' Erasa called out. 'I can see it through the window.'

Videl quickly swam to the front of the airplane.

'I can see it too!' Trunks said excited. 'A little farther ahead!'

The footage of what Videl saw suddenly shook, and Videl was definitely surprised by something, the footage was spinning everywhere due to Videl looking around.

'What was that?!'

They suddenly saw a huge fish swimming around and attacking Videl through the window. Her diving gear had withstood the first attack but the fish turned around and attacked again.

'Holy shit that thing's huge!' Erasa cried out. 'Videl look out!'

Videl saw the fish. Gohan sensed her using her ki to quickly dodge it.

'I'll have to chase it off!' Videl said determined. Videl launched a small ki blast at the fish, hitting it in between its eyes. The explosion severely hurt the fish, which quickly swam away.

'That was close.' Erasa said quietly. 'Nice one.'

'I didn't expect that blast to be so strong.' Videl said, quickly swimming to the Dragon Ball. 'I didn't use that much ki.'

Bulma explained it quickly.

'Explosions are always more severe underwater, because water doesn't compress to absorb a portion of the energy like air does.'

Videl grabbed the Dragon Ball and quickly swam back. Before long Videl was back inside with them with the three-starred Dragon Ball.

'Well done Videl!' Erasa cheered on.

'It was nothing.' Videl dismissed.

'No, that fish was really big.' Erasa pressed on.

'Yeah it was huge!' Goten said excitedly.

'Good job indeed Videl.' Krillin said gracefully. 'How much Dragon Balls have you collected so far?'

'Two.' Erasa replied, grabbing the first one they collected, holding it next to Videl's one. 'So we still need five more… Huh?'

As Erasa held the five-starred Dragon Ball close to Videl's three-starred Dragon Ball, both Dragon Balls started glowing more intensely.

'Ehmm, what's going on?' Erasa asked hesitantly. Bulma already had an answer ready.

'Dragon Balls always glow more for a little bit when you bring multiple together; it's normal.'

'I don't think there's anything normal about glowing magical balls that can summon a magical dragon to grant wishes with magic.' Erasa replied uncomfortably. 'I never would have believed any of this if I hadn't already flown on a magical cloud earlier today. And the way that I can only look at those stars from the front is still creeping me out.'

Gohan had never considered that about the Dragon Balls before, but always seeing the stars from the front was indeed quite strange. He had grown up with the Dragon Balls; his father had given him a Dragon Ball when Gohan was just a toddler, wearing it on his hat. Maybe that's why he'd never questioned it. It had always been like that.

But weird Dragon Ball physics couldn't really distract Gohan from his thoughts about Piccolo for long. More than ever before he desired answers. Why was he the only one who couldn't summon his power at will? Why was he so dependent on his emotions? It seemed to come so easily to Goten, and Videl, and everyone else.

Yamcha flew the vehicle back up to the surface.

'Let's go and find the third ball.' Bulma said.

'Once we gather them all, we can wish that Bobbidy, Majin Buu, and Dabura disappear right?' Erasa offered. 'So that they won't be a threat any longer?'

'I'm afraid not.' Master Roshi said. 'The Dragon has limited powers. That is a wish we tried before on less powerful enemies, but they were still too strong for the Dragon to remove. The Dragon will not be able to grant that wish.'

'Then what are we gathering these things for?!' Videl called out, throwing the Dragon Ball she was holding on the floor. 'Is it not to save this world?'

'Master Roshi is right.' Krillin said. 'But the Dragon Balls can still assist us. They have incredible powers, they can even bring the dead back to life.'

'So what do you suggest we wish for?' Videl replied sceptically.

'I don't think we should rush things.' Master Roshi said. 'We know some things about Dabura's fighting techniques, but nothing about Bobbidy or Majin Buu. We need more knowledge about them first; then we can make a plan.'

'What if we wish for me being able to control my power at will, like all of you can?' Gohan offered, the question still lingering in his mind. 'If I could do that, maybe I could defeat them.'

'That is an option Gohan.' Master Roshi said. 'But even then, you still need to know your enemy first. Not knowing your enemy sets you up for defeat.'

Gohan was annoyed with Master Roshi's lack of hurry. Didn't he understand the world was at stake here?

'I can see your frustration and your doubt Gohan.' Master Roshi continued. 'I do not have the answers you seek, but I do not think you need the Dragon to learn to control your power. Maybe you can find a different way. I have never trained you, your mother was always adamant on that. She always said I'd be a bad influence.'

'And she was right.' Bulma said grimly. 'I can't even begin to count the number of times you've been a creepy nasty pervert.'

'Anyway,' Master Roshi continued as if he hadn't heard Bulma, 'you are definitely a curious case. I do not think I am the right person to teach you how to control your power, I have never trained you and it would probably take me a while until I could find answers.'

'I don't understand exactly what all this is about Gohan?' Videl asked. 'You can always control your powers just fine when you're out as the Great Saiyaman with me.'

Gohan tried to explain.

'Well, I have a lot more power and ki inside me. But for some reason I can't summon that power, I can't use it or even feel it at all unless I'm extremely angry.'

'I can attest to that.' Krillin said. 'When Gohan gets really angry and snaps, his power explodes! It's how he eventually defeated Cell! I've never seen anything like it, Gohan's power is absolutely incredible!'

'But I can't control that power.' Gohan said. 'When I am so angry, that emotion also clouds my judgement. When I fought Cell, I was so angry with him, for all his crimes, for all the people he killed, for all of my friends he tortured, I felt that Cell didn't deserve to just die right there. I wanted to make Cell suffer first, I was convinced that he deserved horrible suffering and torture before I would kill him.'

Erasa mouth fell open in shock, tears forming in her eyes again.

'In return, Cell got desperate and tried to end the torture by blowing himself up, along with the entire Earth. I hadn't seen that move of Cell coming; I was so possessed by that anger, I was so much stronger than he was, that I couldn't see the danger that Cell still posed. And then, my father died because of me, because _he_ had to fix _my_ mistake and teleported Cell to North Kai's planet!'

Gohan broke down again.

'It wasn't your fault Gohan.' Erasa said quietly, tears running down her face. 'You were just ten years old. Who can expect a child of that age to always make the right decision in situations like that? It was Cell who killed your father by blowing himself up, not you!'

'But I tortured Cell to the point that he did that!' Gohan exclaimed in frustration. He wasn't angry with Erasa, she was just trying to help, but she just didn't understand. 'If I had just destroyed Cell earlier my father would still be alive! North Kai's planet wouldn't have been destroyed! We wouldn't have been in this mess right now!'

'You should have never been brought into that situation in the first place!' Erasa screamed back in tears. 'You were just TEN! No ten-year-old should ever have to carry such a responsibility! Why couldn't your dad destroy Cell instead?! Why were you even there?! Ten-year-old boys should be making wooden forts in trees and playing videogames, they should be going to school! They shouldn't be forced to fight for the world and make life-or-death decisions! That's just WRONG!'

'I was there because I was the only one strong enough to defeat Cell!' Gohan retaliated, now getting angry. 'If Cell hadn't been defeated he would have killed EVERYONE! The fate of the entire world is more important than my own fate; a lesson I forgot back then when I put the fate of Cell over the fate of the entire world!'

'Please stop fighting!' Goten cried out. 'You shouldn't be fighting with Gohan Miss Erasa! Why are you so angry with him? My mom always says you should never pick fights with someone who hasn't done anything to you!'

Erasa looked at Goten's determined little face and collapsed on the couch.

'I'm sorry about that Gohan.' Erasa said defeated. 'I just feel so terrible that you had to go through all that. You didn't deserve those horrible experiences.'

Gohan didn't know what he deserved anymore. He couldn't understand Erasa's point of view. It would have been even worse if he hadn't been there at the Cell Games.

'Alright!' Videl said, interrupting his thoughts. 'It's no use to dwell on the past! It happened. What we need to do is figure out what to do _now_ to defeat these guys!'

'Videl is right.' Master Roshi said. 'Debating those things of the past will get us nowhere. I think Gohan is also right in that he needs to learn how to control his power. If he does, we will have a much better chance at this fight.'

'How do you suppose he can learn that?' Videl asked. 'I've never heard of any case like his, where someone needs emotional triggers to actually use their full power, and I've been in martial arts my entire life.'

'Neither have I.' Master Roshi said.

'So what _do_ you suggest then?!' Videl asked impatiently.

'I suggest that while we collect the rest of the Dragon Balls, Gohan goes to see Master Korin.'


	25. A Duo of Super Saiyans

Goku looked back and saw Krillin, Tenshinhan, and Gohan fly off into the distance. Anyone who could do that to Gohan, not to mention take out Piccolo, was bound to be a strong opponent. Goku knew he had to be careful. Goku wasn't worried too much about Gohan though. Krillin and Tenshinhan were great guys, Gohan was in good hands. And Gohan was tough, he'd definitely make it through this. Still, Goku had his own fight now. And the prospect of it excited Goku. Fighting with Vegeta had been loads of fun, but being bound to that small ring surrounded by people they had to avoid hurting, it hadn't been perfect by any means.

Goku looked to his approaching opponents. One was very large and pink, he looked obese in small weird clothes, and the other was of average height with an orange skin. Their kis felt oddly incomplete, Goku had never sensed anything like that before, not even in the afterlife where all kinds of weird creatures walked around. Goku wondered which of them had hurt Gohan so much.

'So Vegeta? Which one do you want?'

'You stay back Kakarot! I'll take them both on myself!'

Goku seriously doubted whether Vegeta could pull that off.

'I wanna have a go too! But if you ain't choosing, I'm gonna take the big pink one.'

The orange guy took the word as he and the pink monster engaged them.

'More creatures from the living realm trying to spoil our party?' He said, looking from Goku to Vegeta.

'Umm, I'm not from the living realm, I'm already dead.' Goku said, pointing to his halo. 'But who are you anyway?'

'I am Majin Buu.' The pink monster said. 'And you are already dead, yet you can continue to roam this world?!' It added angrily.

'Yes, very peculiar.' The orange guy said angrily. 'My name is Bobbidy, Majin Buu's partner in the creation of a new universe for our species. You see, when my father was born, he was an outcast from the start. He was refused his rightful place. They said he was unfit for this world, they said he was against nature. And yet the Kaio-Shin allowed a dead person to roam this world? I think a purge is needed.'

Goku didn't understand much of what Bobbidy meant, when Vegeta stepped in.

'I don't know what you two are on about, but if you want to create a new world, go do it somewhere else!' Vegeta said harshly. 'We already have a world here. Find your own spot!'

'No!' Majin Buu said harshly. 'We will take this universe! You do not get to make any demands. Just pray that you will die without too much pain!'

'That'll be the last time you underestimate a Super Saiyan!' Vegeta said mercilessly, and he accelerated towards Majin Buu for a frontal assault.

Vegeta faked out at the last moment and attacked Majin Buu from above, kicking it on the top of its head. Majin Buu was knocked down and Vegeta gave chase. Bobbidy tried to intervene; he flew after Vegeta and released some kind of fire from his mouth.

'Hey, two on one isn't fair!' Goku exclaimed and he attacked Bobbidy from the side with a powerful kick to the side of his abdomen. The blow dissipated the fire and Goku quickly flew after Bobbidy. Right when Goku thought he had caught up to Bobbidy, the latter vanished and reappeared behind him. Goku concentrated quickly and teleported away to dodge Bobbidy's fire attack. Goku and Bobbidy landed facing each other.

 _He can teleport too!_

'Enough of this!' Bobbidy exclaimed threateningly. 'I'm not here to entertain you!'

Goku noticed Bobbidy was focusing his ki and preparing an energy attack. Goku raised his guard and focused his energy too, causing his Super Saiyan ki to excite the surrounding air and spark lightning around him again. As Bobbidy launched his energy attack, Goku fired his own energy attack back at Bobbidy to block it. But Bobbidy suddenly exhaled a large amount of fire which seemed to combine with his energy attack.

Goku tried to counter by increasing the intensity of his own energy attack, pushing the combined attack of Bobbidy back, but when Bobbidy's fire made contact with Goku's ki, it didn't slow down at all. Goku sensed his own ki disappearing, while the fire seemed to become brighter and brighter.

 _His fire can use the energy from my ki attacks! Amazing!_

Goku quickly jumped into the sky to dodge the oncoming flames. As he ascended, he felt the heat from below increasing. Looking down, he saw the fire was approaching him fast. Goku quickly accelerated and flew sideways, leaving behind several after-images. But the fire continued to chase him, it looked like Bobbidy wasn't fooled by the after-image technique. Goku descended in the direction of Bobbidy and launched some more ki behind him to accelerate faster, intensifying the fire even further. At the last moment Goku pulled up and flew away, barely missing Bobbidy. The fire hit Bobbidy head on.

Goku couldn't believe Bobbidy had fallen for such a simple trick. But the fire wasn't dissipating, it still looked unnatural. It was incredibly hot and instead of diffusing it was concentrating around Bobbidy. As Goku watched the fire grow even more in intensity it suddenly vanished, along with Bobbidy. Goku sensed both the heat and Bobbidy's ki behind him, but he was too late and a blazingly powerful kick landed in his neck.

The heat was immense and Bobbidy travelled down with him, driving his foot into Goku's neck while they crashed down. Instinctively, Goku rolled forwards, causing Bobbidy to roll around and crash into the ground first. Despite that, the crash was devastating. As the searing Bobbidy crashed down a massive explosion blew Goku away. Goku crashed into a mountain in a daze.

As Goku looked around again, recovering from his daze, he noticed that Bobbidy was still alive. Although it had been a rough blow to Goku, he was confident his body could take a couple more of such attacks. This guy was definitely something else, Goku was getting more and more excited. If Bobbidy could turn his ki attacks against him with that fire, Goku would have to fight him physically.

Goku stood up and concentrated his ki. He then flew towards Bobbidy, trying to fake a frontal attack. At the last moment, Goku pulled up, leaving behind an after-image to move through Bobbidy. As Goku flew over Bobbidy, the latter suddenly disappeared. Goku sensed Bobbidy's ki above him, and quickly turned around to see Bobbidy launching a powerful ki attack at him.

Goku responded rapidly and flew out of the way of Bobbidy's ki attack. He quickly flew up towards Bobbidy and started his rapid assault. Bobbidy was fast and blocked and dodged many of Goku's attacks, but Goku wouldn't let go. Throwing his punches and kicks purely on his reflexes, Goku suddenly saw Bobbidy releasing his firebreath attack again. Goku managed to fly around Bobbidy and tried to attack him from behind. Goku aimed and managed to hit Bobbidy directly with a rolling kick to his lower back.

Bobbidy was forced back away from Goku due to the force and crashed into Majin Buu in mid-air, while Goku prepared his Kamehameha wave. As Goku was concentrating his ki, he saw Vegeta also concentrating his ki in the distance. Majin Buu and Bobbidy would get attacked from two sides at once!

Goku and Vegeta both released their energy beams at their opponents from opposite sides. The two attacks collided as Goku sensed the energies of both Bobbidy and Majin Buu vanish. Goku noticed them appearing close to the ground while his Kamehameha wave was slowly pushing back Vegeta's energy attack. Vegeta increased the intensity of his attack, trying to push back Goku's Kamehameha wave.

 _He wants to do this? Alright then, fine by me!_

Goku, not wanting to bow beneath Vegeta, pushed his attack harder, and Vegeta increased his ki output too. As the two Super Saiyans increased their power output, energy started scattering randomly and violently from their point of collision. Goku ascended slightly, trying to aim the scattering energy towards Majin Buu and Bobbidy. He didn't want them to take advantage of the situation, this was between him and Vegeta. They had been far too confined at the Tournament, now was the time he could really measure his strength with Vegeta. As Goku's energy output approached Goku's limit, Vegeta's attack was pushed back. Goku suddenly heard a voice in his head.

'Goku! What the hell are you doing?! You should be fighting Bobbidy and Majin Buu, not Vegeta!'

It was King Kai.

'Hey King Kai. I'm just playing a bit, Vegeta started it.'

'I don't care who started it Goku!' King Kai exclaimed angrily in his head. 'Neither one of you is strong enough on his own to beat Majin Buu! You need to work together!'

'But I haven't even fought Buu on my own yet!' Goku replied. 'Lemme try that first and then we'll see…'

'And what if you lose huh?! This kind of recklessness is insane, even for you!' King Kai exclaimed, while Goku noticed Majin Buu ascending behind Vegeta. Vegeta noticed it too, and right as Buu tried to attack Vegeta from behind Vegeta cancelled his energy attack and descended rapidly, dodging Buu's attack. Goku's Kamehameha wave hit Majin Buu with full force while Vegeta approached Goku.

'Just for the record, I only let that one slip because that monster attacked me from behind!'

'But I was still beating you there Vegeta.' Goku grinned.

King Kai intervened.

'Can't you two idiots stop fighting each other for just a second and focus on fighting Majin Buu?!'

They looked at Majin Buu. It appeared to be completely unharmed despite just having taken a direct hit from Goku's Kamehameha wave.

'Wow, this monster's something else.' Goku said intrigued. 'My turn!'

Goku teleported behind Majin Buu and attacked it from above before Vegeta could object. Goku knocked it on the head with a powerful blow while simultaneously launching a rolling kick to the side of its abdomen.

'Ugh, fine.' Vegeta grunted. 'You won't be able to finish off that monster anyway. I'll come back for you once I finish off Bobbidy Kakarot! This isn't over yet!'

Goku caught Majin Buu's wrist and threw it down into the ground with a lot of force. Majin Buu rolled around and landed on its feet, but the impact left a very large crater in the ground and the noise of Buu hitting the ground was deafening. Buu bounced back and engaged Goku with a flurry of punches and kicks. Goku had to be fast to dodge and block the attacks. He noticed that Buu left a lot of openings while attacking, so Goku took ample opportunity to launch his own attacks back. Goku noticed that the body of Majin Buu felt very soft, it absorbed Goku's attacks by deforming.

Goku noticed Buu was storing ki into its hands. Goku quickly grabbed Buu's head to flip over it and tried to attack it from behind. Buu wouldn't be able to attack him there. But Goku was wrong. Majin Buu, still having its ki contained in front of it, aimed his blast backwards, straight through its own abdomen. Goku hadn't expected that move and was blown backwards as Buu's ki attack pushed him farther and farther back, causing him to fly straight through several mountains with high speed.

Using all his strength and concentration, Goku eventually managed to throw Buu's attack into the sky. Looking back, Goku saw Majin Buu approaching fast, through the tunnels that Goku had involuntarily dug in the mountains. Majin Buu looked completely unharmed, there was no trace whatsoever of it having just blasted itself through the abdomen at all.

Goku concentrated ki into his hands, preparing his Kamehameha wave, while simultaneously teleporting repeatedly and leaving behind after-images. He had to see how Majin Buu took attacks so easily. Majin Buu arrived and attacked several images with its ki attacks, causing them to dissipate. Goku continued creating more images while teleporting around and charging his attack. Once Goku had charged up close to the limit that he could quickly control, he teleported behind his opponent and fired his Kamehameha straight at its head from close range.

It was by far not the strongest Kamehameha Goku could launch, but it was difficult to teleport while charging. It was a combination he had practiced a lot in Otherworld, but he wasn't flawless at it yet, he always lost some ki while teleporting because the movement cost him so much concentration, and creating the images for the after-image technique made it even harder.

After Goku's Kamehameha wave had fully enveloped Majin Buu's entire upper body and Goku had released all of the ki, he retreated somewhat to gaze on his opponent. It looked like its entire upper body had been vaporised by the energy, only Buu's abdomen and legs still remained. But Majin Buu wasn't falling down, it was still floating. So it was still alive. Goku saw a new upper body growing rapidly from Majin Buu's abdomen. Within seconds Majin Buu had regrown its entire body. And it wasn't panting, it didn't appear to show even the smallest sign of fatigue. What kind of creature was this? It must have regrown its abdomen earlier on too after it blasted through its own body. The willingness to do that suggested it didn't require a lot of its stamina to regenerate itself.

As Goku reached this conclusion another question popped up. How could he defeat this monster? He didn't know yet. But he'd probably think of something, he always did. The challenge excited him. Majin Buu turned back to Goku.

'You're just delaying the inevitable. I'm sending you back where you belong. You belong in death!'

'I'm going back by the end of the day, you don't have to help with that.'

Majin Buu did not reply. It attacked Goku with a long punch, stretching its right arm out. Goku swerved around its fist and grabbed Buu's extended wrist, trying to flip Majin Buu over him and toss him to the ground. But Majin Buu approached Goku instead, extending its arm even further, and Goku was flipping its arm around him as if it were a rope. There was no sense of stiffness in Buu's arm whatsoever. Then Majin Buu tightened its arm as it was surrounding Goku, wrapping him around his entire body like a snake, and it started squeezing.

Majin Buu made a waving motion with its left hand and gathered ki in it, preparing to blast Goku. It was not a little blast either. While Goku was struggling his hardest to break free so he could breathe again, he sensed Buu was charging up a killing shot.


	26. Departure to Master Korin

The name Master Korin didn't ring any bells for Videl.

'Uhmm, who's Master Korin?' Videl asked.

'Master Korin is an old Master.' Master Roshi answered. 'He trained me back in the day, long ago.'

Videl was sceptical. Master Roshi didn't just look old himself, he looked ancient. How ridiculously old would this Korin guy be?

'Is he still alive after all this time?'

'Yes, he still is.' Master Roshi said. 'I trained for years with him. He's also an expert on seeing the intentions of people, I couldn't get anything by him and I had years' worth of experience seducing hot young gals like yourself.'

Chi-Chi agilely kicked Master Roshi on the back of his head with a lot of force. Where had she suddenly come from?

'I told you not to try anything funny with those sweet girls you old creep!'

Master Roshi slowly got back up.

'Alright, alright, I was just trying to give the lady a compliment. Can't an old man do that anymore?'

Videl didn't consider it a compliment, she barely even knew the old guy. She didn't feel sorry for Roshi at all, if he had made such a comment to Erasa Videl would have punched the guy in his face too.

'Anyway, that's why I think Gohan might benefit going to Master Korin. I think if there's anyone who can quickly figure out what's stopping Gohan from using his powers effectively it's him.'

Videl was getting very curious to this Korin guy.

'Gohan, do you know this Master Korin?' Videl asked.

'Not very well, I met him briefly a couple of times.' Gohan replied.

'We're pretty close to Korin Tower.' Krillin said. 'Why don't you go there now Gohan? If there's a chance Master Korin's guidance could help you, go for it.'

Glancing at Gohan, and feeling her own curiosity, Videl made a decision.

'I'll come with you Gohan.' Videl said determined.

'Huh?' Gohan asked confused. 'Don't you want to stay here with Erasa?'

'I'm curious to this Master Korin.' Videl said simply. 'Maybe I'll learn something too.'

Erasa grabbed Videl's hand.

'I don't want to be alone without you again Videl!' Erasa exclaimed. 'I was so scared last time when I had to fly back on that golden cloud on my own.'

'You won't be alone.' Krillin said, and Lazuli nodded too. 'We'll be here too. And I think it'd be good if Videl goes along with Gohan, then Gohan won't be alone either. It's dangerous out there, it's probably best not to travel alone.'

Saying goodbye to Erasa was difficult, Videl didn't want to abandon her. But at the same time Videl knew she didn't want to let this opportunity slip. This could be the opportunity to learn a whole lot more about fighting.

'Why don't you come along too?' Videl offered, but Erasa shook her head.

'No Videl.' Erasa said tearfully. 'I'm not coming with you, I'd probably just distract you guys all the time with my blabbering.'

'No Erasa, you can come too!' Videl exclaimed while Gohan looked concerned.

'No, I don't wanna distract you and Gohan even more. I can see how important this is to you both, I can see it in your eyes. And you know me, I can't ever shut up. I probably wouldn't understand any of all that fighting stuff anyway.'

'What do you think Gohan?' Videl asked.

'I think Erasa's right.' Gohan said thoughtfully. 'Erasa would probably just be distracting us, I don't think she could help us out at all. I think she's safer here with the others.'

'Just because it's true doesn't mean you can just say it like that Gohan! That's just rude!' Erasa called out annoyed.

'Huh? But Erasa, I'm agreeing with you.' Gohan said confused.

'That's not the point!'

Gohan looked even more confused.

Erasa sighed and hugged Gohan whose body tensed up.

'Oh, I just can't stay mad at ya Gohan.' Erasa said. 'You're just such an adorable clueless dork.'

Gohan turned red again, his body awkwardly tense, and Erasa released him without Gohan having returned the hug.

'Good luck Gohan. I hope this Master Korin guy will be able to help you out. And you really need to learn how to hug!'

'I think you can teach him a thing or two about that Erasa!' Videl said smiling, causing Erasa to giggle.

Erasa then hugged Videl, while Gohan turned to his family.

'Hey sweetie, promise me we'll see each other again soon.'

'I promise.' Videl said, returning the hug.

'Gohan, I don't understand why you have to go!' Goten exclaimed.

'He has to Goten.' Gohan's grandfather said, hugging Goten with a single enormous hand. 'Some day you'll understand.'

'But I don't want Gohan to leave already!'

Erasa approached Goten and put her arm around him.

'Hey, why don't you try teaching me some of that flying stuff in the meantime huh?' Erasa said kindly. 'Let's show Gohan how good you are at being the flying teacher!'

'Really?!' Goten proclaimed excitedly. 'Awesome!'

Chi-Chi looked at them obviously torn.

'Gohan!'

Gohan looked at his mother concerned.

'Be careful out there Gohan!' She called out. 'And Videl, take good care of him!'

'I promise I'll do my best.' Videl said, bowing to Chi-Chi, secretly unsure of what she could possibly do if planet-destroying monsters were to attack the two of them.

'I'll be careful mother.' Gohan said.

'Why don't we meet you guys at the lookout again?' Krillin offered. 'We'll go there once we've gathered all the Dragon Balls.'

'That's a good idea, we'll do that.' Gohan replied, while Videl had no idea what the lookout was.

'I'll slow down so you two can fly out.' Yamcha said, and they all felt the deceleration in the plane. When the plane was flying slow enough they opened the door, and Videl and Gohan flew off, waving the others goodbye.

* * *

'Looks like your ki has recovered nicely Videl.' Gohan said.

'Yeah, I feel fine now. Do you know which way to go?'

'Yes, I can sense Master Korin's ki.'

'How far is it to this Master Korin guy?'

'Not too far, I think about 250 kilometres.'

'What the hell Gohan?' Videl exclaimed. 'That's like really far! And you can sense him all the way from here?!'

Gohan sped up a bit, and Videl followed.

'Nah, we'll be there in no time, you can already fly pretty fast. Try to accelerate from your entire body.'

Videl remembered what Gohan had told her earlier after their battle and tried to distribute her ki across her entire body while flying. It wasn't easy but she managed it.

'That's not too bad Videl! Now push it all back at the same time!'

Videl followed Gohan's instructions and she suddenly flew way faster. She felt the wind picking up a lot of speed and she saw the ground moving past much faster. But she hadn't felt any acceleration at all, it was kind of surreal and she got a bit of vertigo. Gohan quickly caught up with her.

'See how fast you're going?'

'I feel a bit dizzy.' Videl said.

'You're not used yet to not feeling the acceleration while your eyes tell you you sped up.' Gohan explained. 'That'll go away with practice.'

Videl was sure she could get this down. But in the meantime she had plenty of other questions.

'Gohan?'

'Hmm?'

'Krillin said something about the Dragon Balls being able to bring back the dead.' Videl started. 'Is that really true?'

'Yes.' Gohan answered. 'After Cell was defeated we wished back all of the people that were killed by that monster.'

'So _that's_ why all those people came back!' Videl suddenly realised. 'But then, why is your dad still dead? Didn't he get killed by Cell too?'

Videl knew bringing up Gohan's dad was a touchy subject, but she had to know. Gohan looked away from Videl, down towards the speeding ground before answering.

'Well uhmm. The Dragon can only bring people back once.' Gohan answered. 'If someone was already revived before, the Dragon can't bring them back anymore if they die again. My father had already died once before that whole Cell stuff.'

'And Piccolo?' Videl asked.

'He was brought back before too, we won't be able to revive him either.' Gohan said harshly.

'I'm… I'm so sorry Gohan.'

Gohan did not reply. As they flew, Videl suddenly sensed a trace of ki coming from behind. Videl and Gohan both looked back but didn't see anything.

'What was that?' Videl asked, fearing that Bobbidy or Majin Buu might have found them.

The trace of ki had been faint, but there was no mistaking the chaotic nature of it. It reminded Videl of the strange reddish ki that Gohan's dad had been using in his fight with Vegeta. She still had no idea what it actually was.

'I think that was a portion of my father's ki, released in his battle.' Gohan replied worryingly. 'Let's hurry up.'

'You know, it felt the same as that weird reddish ki your dad was using against Vegeta. It felt really chaotic, like more chaotic than any ki I felt anywhere else.' Videl noted, her voice both worrisome and curious.

'It's my father's Kaio-Ken attack, he learned it in the afterlife, when he died the first time.' Gohan replied.

'The Kaio-Ken attack?'

'Well uhmm, how do I explain it?' Gohan started clumsily. 'It's like, uhmm, the way I understand it is that you use your ki to trigger an annihilation reaction inside your body, and then convert the energy that's released into much more ki to use in battle. But the energy is very dangerous and volatile, it's pretty much impossible to control well, which is why it feels so chaotic.'

'An annihilation what?' Videl was very confused, she didn't understand much of what Gohan said.

'An annihilation reaction.' Gohan tried to explain. 'Essentially it annihilates small portions of your body, like uhm, inside,' Gohan moved his hand over his abdomen, 'and converts them into energy. It's a form of nuclear reaction, so it produces enormous amounts of energy for destroying small amounts of mass.'

'So you're destroying your own body when you use it?'

'Small parts of it yes.' Gohan said. 'If you use the technique very sparingly your body should heal itself over time again, but it is a technique that can obliterate your stamina or even kill you. On the other hand, the amounts of ki you can gain with it can be so enormous as to multiply your speed and power several times over, depending on how intensively it's used.'

Videl wondered if she would be able to do that. It sounded pretty dangerous but if she'd just use it sparingly and carefully...

'Do you think you could teach me?'

'No!' Gohan replied more determined and strict than Videl had ever heard him.

'Why not?' Videl asked. 'I'll be careful with it.'

'I never learned how to do it.' Gohan replied. 'And to be honest I think that's for the better. I don't have sufficient control over my powers to use something like the Kaio-Ken. And even if I could I wouldn't teach you. You are not even close to ready for that.'

'How can you tell?' Videl protested. What did Gohan know? Gohan had been constantly surprised with her powers over ki ever since she started her lessons in ki! 'You also said I learned all this ki stuff really fast and I was really good at it!'

'Because even my father barely controls the Kaio-Ken!' Gohan said harshly. There was no trace of Gohan's usual insecurity in his voice. 'Even if you somehow managed to trigger the reaction you wouldn't be able to control it! Don't you get it?! This is not a little out of your level, this is way beyond your level! There is absolutely no way you would be able to control it! This is not like learning how to fly where if you mess up you might end up with a broken leg or something! This stuff would kill you, and probably obliterate the entire city you were in as well, if not more!'

Videl flinched from hearing that. She had no idea her body could be that powerful. Blowing up boulders was one thing, blowing up entire cities was something else entirely. She remembered how focused Goku's ki had felt in the battle, how every trace of it was moving in unison and purposefully. And how crazily chaotic the Kaio-Ken had felt. If Goku, who could control his ki that well, was struggling so much with controlling the Kaio-Ken, there was probably a lot of truth to what Gohan was saying.

'Alright, I get why I wouldn't be able to do it.' Videl admitted reluctantly. They were both silent for a minute or so.

'How do you think Erasa is doing in Goten's flying lesson?' Videl asked, trying to break the tension.

'I really don't think she can fly already.' Gohan answered. 'I don't get why she wanted Goten to teach her, Goten's far too young. Why wouldn't she ask one of us to teach her if she wanted to learn it?'

'She just wanted to make Goten happy Gohan, distracting him a bit from all this shit that's been going on.' Videl explained. Videl didn't understand why Gohan didn't get that, wasn't that obvious?

'Don't you think he'll be sad if Erasa won't be able to fly quickly?' Gohan asked concerned.

'I don't know, Erasa probably didn't think that far ahead.' Videl paused for a moment. 'But Goten will be fine. He's got his mother and his grandfather there too, and others to help him with the lessons.'

'I guess you're right.'

'Hey Gohan, something else. What's this Korin guy like?'

'Master Korin is very nice, and also very smart. He lives up in his tower, he's the keeper of Korin Tower. My father also trained with him for a short while, a long time ago.'

Gohan pointed ahead. 'There it is!'

They slowed down somewhat while Videl looked. At first Videl didn't see anything, but then she saw a slim, very tall pillar. No, the pillar wasn't just very tall. It was ridiculously tall, taller than she could even see! As they flew closer, Videl saw there were all kinds of markings on the pillar. They looked like markings you'd find in ancient ruins or something. She saw pictures of birds, of human faces, of triangles, of fish, and of all kinds of other shapes. Now that Videl thought about it, it also looked like art in a way. It was actually quite beautiful.

'Wow!' Videl said. 'So this is Korin's Tower?'

'Yes.' Gohan replied, pointing up. 'Master Korin lives up there.'

Videl looked up and faintly saw something in the sky, but she couldn't make out its shape, it was so high up. Looking down, she saw a village on the ground. Not with modern buildings or roads, it was made up of tents in a forest. She also saw a large fire in between the tents, in a clearing away from the trees, presumably they used the fire to prepare their food or keep wildlife away.

'Who are those people?'

'They protect these lands and the tower, they believe them to be sacred.' Gohan replied. 'They and their ancestors before them have lived here for hundreds of years. But let's go up.'

Gohan quickly flew upwards along Korin Tower, and Videl followed. Videl noticed the markings were applied across the entire height of the tower. Had those people down there climbed all the way up to do that, or could they perhaps fly? It must be several kilometres high.

After a short while they reached the top of Korin Tower. Now that she could see it better, Videl recognised there was a round structure on top of the tower. The bottom floor had four holes in it, presumably the holes were normally used as an entrance and exit when climbing the tower. It didn't look like there was any place for an airplane to land. This tower was probably much older than airplanes. Videl realised Master Korin might not get many visitors if said visitors would have to climb all the way up without any staircase or anything to help them out. It was only easy for Videl and Gohan to get there because they could fly.

As Videl and Gohan entered the structure and touched down inside, they heard a voice behind them.

'Hey Gohan, long time no see. And I see you brought company along too this time!'


	27. The Wrath of Super Saiyans

Goku struggled with all his might to break free, but Majin Buu's right arm was wrapped around him so tightly it wouldn't budge, and its killing energy attack was almost ready. In desperation, Goku concentrated as much ki as he could in the centre of his body, close to his liver, and tried to trigger the reaction for the Kaio-Ken attack. As soon as he sensed he triggered the annihilation reaction he forced all of his ki outwards in all directions. It was forced out chaotically, the rush and sheer magnitude of the amount of ki he created made it impossible to control well.

Right when Majin Buu released his energy attack, the reddish ki scattered around Goku and burned through the arm that was wrapping him, evaporating it. Goku freed himself and immediately descended as fast as he could, his ki having shielded him somewhat from Buu's attack.

Goku landed and was spent. Using the Kaio-Ken attack while being in his Super Saiyan form was an enormous toll on his body. He barely even tried it in the afterlife, it was so difficult to control that it was pretty much unusable. High above him, Majin Buu was regrowing its arm and part of its upper torso. Even scattered and undistributed like that, Goku's ki had evaporated part of its chest. Meanwhile, Goku saw Bobbidy getting blasted hard into the ground by Vegeta, and Vegeta immediately approached Goku afterwards.

'Told you you wouldn't be able to finish that monster off on your own!' Vegeta said harshly.

'Why didn't ya tell me that Buu monster could regenerate?' Goku replied panting heavily. His liver hurt immensely.

'Figured you'd find out soon enough.' Vegeta said. 'Besides, you didn't tell me Bobbidy could teleport either. I'll chime in against that fat monster and save your ass.'

Vegeta paused for a moment.

'You'd better recover quickly Kakarot!'

'The Kaio-Ken's a lot harder on the body as a Super Saiyan.' Goku struggled, while Majin Buu flew off towards Bobbidy.

'I don't care.' Vegeta said. 'Our battle hasn't finished yet. And today's the only day you're here!'

'Got any ideas on how to defeat that monster?'

'You'll see.' Vegeta replied grimly as he ascended into the air.

Vegeta held out his hands and started collecting massive amounts of ki in a ball in his hands. From what Goku could tell, Vegeta wasn't trying too hard to concentrate the energy more densely. Vegeta was forming an enormous ball of ki, about ten metres in diameter, and concentrating more and more energy into it.

After about half a minute, Majin Buu returned, Bobbidy close behind it.

'Hey, fat monster over there!' Vegeta called out, still powering up his attack even further. Buu looked and accelerated quickly towards Vegeta. As Majin Buu got close, Vegeta released his energy attack, completely enveloping his opponent. It looked to be a direct hit. Vegeta then concentrated the energy, shrinking the ball in size but not in power. The ki density became too much to control for Vegeta, resulting in a violent explosion while Vegeta quickly descended for cover.

The air was glowing bright red after that explosion, obscuring Goku's vision. Goku understood what Vegeta had tried to do. By destroying Majin Buu's entire body instead of only evaporating a portion of it, it shouldn't be able to regenerate again. Presumably it needed a portion of its body from which to regenerate.

Bobbidy approached them.

'Hah, that's all for that monster, you're next!' Vegeta called out.

'You really think it's going to be that easy?' Bobbidy teased. 'Look again and behold the greatness of my father's creation! The unstoppable power of Majin Buu!'

Goku looked back into the sky, still panting heavily. The air slowly calmed down and the red glow was diminishing. Goku could see clearly through it again, and he noticed that there were several small pink parts in the sky. The material looked like Majin Buu's body, but very small and in various shapes. The largest were roughly fifteen centimetres in size. It looked like Majin Buu was gone, nothing could survive after being blasted into such little pieces. But wait…

'What the hell?' Vegeta brought out.

Goku suddenly realised the pieces weren't falling, they were still flying. How was this possible? The pieces started to move. Not fall, but move together, concentrating again, slowly forming a new shape. It reminded Goku of Gohan when his son was little, making all kinds of things with his clay. Only these pieces were moving themselves, instead of being moved by Gohan. Slowly, but still too fast for comfort, Majin Buu started to completely reform, building up its body from the tiny pieces.

Goku could only stare in awe and terror. He had never seen a creature like this before. How could Majin Buu do that? And more importantly, how could you possibly stop something like that?

'See?!' Bobbidy jeered. 'Majin Buu proves that the life my father and me can create is far superior to any life the Kaio-Shin or MaKaio-Shin ever could! Majin Buu proves that my father deserved not only to stand as equal next to the Kaio-Shin, Majin Buu proves that we are destined to stand above the Kaio-Shin and the MaKaio-Shin and create a new universe, a better universe with life forms superior to anything they ever made!'

Goku didn't understand anything of what Bobbidy was blabbering about.

'Huh?' Goku said confused. 'What are you talking about? Kaio-Shin? MaKaio-Shin?'

Vegeta stepped in.

'I don't know what your beef is with these "Kaio-Shin" or whatever, and I don't care!' Vegeta scolded. 'All I care about is that your lackeys attacked us in the middle of our battle, and that was a big mistake!'

Goku had to agree with Vegeta. As far as he was concerned, attacking someone who was in an official tournament battle with someone else was among the most dishonourable actions possible.

Majin Buu was pretty much completely reformed now.

'That actually hurt a little bit.' Majin Buu said ominously. 'Now it's my turn.'

As Majin Buu launched its attack it approached Vegeta directly. Vegeta dodged Majin Buu's attack by flying over it and grabbing the weird curved horn-like thing on its head with his left hand. Vegeta immediately rolled around and launched several kicks to Majin Buu's head while holding on to its horn. As Buu turned around, twisting its horn right underneath Vegeta's grip, Vegeta quickly kicked it in its face and bounced off to gain distance. Majin Buu gave chase and launched several energy attacks. Vegeta dodged them all while charging up another powerful energy attack.

Goku was impressed with how well Vegeta was managing his energy as Vegeta kept on the dodging. Vegeta was also excellent in predicting Majin Buu's moves. But Vegeta couldn't manage to get closer due to Majin Buu's continued attacks. There was a real risk of being trapped in Buu's grip when fighting up close. Goku noticed that several of the ki blasts Vegeta had been dodging were turning around in mid-air and coming back to attack Vegeta from behind.

Goku, somewhat recovered again from the Kaio-Ken attack, teleported behind Majin Buu and launched a blast through its abdomen. This disturbed Majin Buu's concentration and Vegeta quickly moved in and blasted Majin Buu from below with the energy attack he had been charging up. Goku butted in and launched a Kamehameha wave from the side at Buu, putting as much ki into it as he could.

When looking closer, Goku noticed several streaks of pink material were departing from where they were attacking Majin Buu. Goku aimed his Kamehameha wave to destroy the pink material. Vegeta noticed it too and joined him. The pink streaks halted and Goku and Vegeta's attacks dissipated as they couldn't maintain their energy output. As their attacks dissipated, Goku still sensed that strange incomplete ki from where Majin Buu had been, and there was a slight reddish glow in the air again.

Bobbidy laughed sadistically.

'You really think you can defeat Majin Buu like that?' Bobbidy laughed maniacally, keeping his distance. It looked like Bobbidy had no more interest in joining the fight. He just let Goku and Vegeta fight Buu two-on-one, abandoning his teammate. 'I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show as Majin Buu destroys you both.'

'Why do you care so much about our destruction?' Vegeta grunted.

'Because you are the living remnants of the Kaio-Shin!' Bobbidy exclaimed angrily. 'The Kaio-Shin abandoned us and denied us our place, while we are superior! We have killed all the Kaio-Shin, but as long as there are still creatures remaining as their remnants, our vengeance is not fulfilled! To make our new world truly ours, all traces of the Kaio-Shin must be eliminated!'

'So you want to kill everyone?' Vegeta grunted. 'Must be some lonely world you're planning to make.'

Goku sensed Majin Buu's incomplete energy above them. Looking up, he saw streaks of pink material concentrating and quickly reforming into Majin Buu's shape.

'Looks like that monster's back again.' Goku whispered to Vegeta as the two landed on the ground. 'Any ideas?'

'I thought that hitting it with that much energy in quick succession would do it.' Vegeta whispered back. 'But that regenerating power is insane, I've never seen anything like it. But still, I'm not about to give up.'

'Neither am I.' Goku said. 'Let's fight it together.'

Majin Buu reformed completely. It looked pretty angry.

'I've had enough playing with you two. It's been fun, but now it's time to get serious.'

Majin Buu opened its mouth and inhaled a huge amount of air. Its abdomen seemed to grow to at least thrice its original size. Then it started blowing, and with its breath Majin Buu released an immense amount of red fire, spraying everywhere across the ground. Goku and Vegeta quickly jumped out of the way to evade the fire. Vegeta flew around in varying directions rapidly, dodging Majin Buu's attacks, while leaving behind after-images as the entire ground caught fire. Goku saw his opportunity and teleported above Majin Buu. He concentrated his ki and immediately attacked Buu on the top of its head with a powerful kick, knocking it into a hard crash on the ground.

Goku followed up with a series of rapid ki attacks to the burning ground, scattering them close to where Majin Buu had crashed, and Vegeta joined him. Goku sensed the ki was disappearing as it touched the flames while the heat he felt from below increased. Apparently this fire was the same as the fire Bobbidy had been using earlier, absorbing their ki attacks. They both continued their barrage of ki on Buu. Two arms appeared from the flames and stretched long, trying to grab Vegeta. Vegeta avoided them and simultaneously continued his attacks. The heat increased even further, but Majin Buu's arms were still chasing Vegeta.

'Vegeta look out!'

Majin Buu started launching powerful energy attacks from its stretched out arms. Vegeta swerved to avoid them, moving at an incredible speed, while Goku tried attacking Majin Buu's arms, causing them to back down. Soon after, Majin Buu slowly ascended from the flames, seemingly unharmed. Goku was curious as to how it had survived that intense fire. Judging from the heat he felt it was far hotter than any fire he had ever felt before. Usually Goku could learn a lot from fighting his opponents, but the more he fought Majin Buu, the less he felt he understood its powers. He still had no idea how Majin Buu could keep on regenerating and reforming its body either.

As Goku suddenly realised that fact, worry and fear set in. What if they couldn't beat this monster? Bobbidy had said they wanted to kill everyone. Goku wasn't scared of dying himself, he was doomed to go back anyway by the end of the day. But Gohan, Krillin, Chi-Chi, Bulma, and all the others... And Goten, he just met the little boy today, looked just like him. A big part of Goku wanted to stick around and get to know Goten more. Not only did Goten seem insanely talented, he also seemed eager to learn how to fight better and Goku really wanted to see that talent blossom and help him out with that. Only six years old and already a Super Saiyan, Goku was sure Goten could become even stronger than he was. Seeing Goten at the tournament had excited him a lot with those thoughts, Goku had even started considering teleporting to planet Namek to get the other Dragon Balls, the ones that could still revive him, right after the Tournament. But then these guys interfered. And if this monster would beat them… Gohan had already lost here before, so he obviously couldn't do it. There was no one else left who stood a chance!

'Vegeta.' Goku whispered. 'We can't lose this!'

'Are you seriously this naïve Kakarot?' Vegeta whispered back annoyed. 'That monster's insane, I don't know about you but I haven't exactly found a weak spot on it yet!'

'I mean, if we lose, who's gonna beat it? Ya know Gohan ain't strong enough on his own!'

'Don't you think I already figured that out?!'

The small break had allowed Goku and Vegeta to catch their breath again, but Majin Buu grew impatient. It approached Goku head-first for a frontal attack. Goku ducked and kicked it in the abdomen. Majin Buu wasn't fazed at all and followed with a series of quick punches. Goku nimbly ducked in between its attacks, relying on his fighting experience. Like before, Buu left a lot of openings and Goku repeatedly attacked it directly. But none of Goku's attacks seemed to deal any lasting damage.

Meanwhile, Goku sensed Vegeta was charging up his ki, collecting it in a large ball again like earlier. If Goku could only keep Majin Buu distracted for long enough so that Vegeta could unleash an even bigger attack than before…

Vegeta had taken a bit of distance and the air around him started to spark violently with lightning. Lightning sparked all the way to the ground and to the clouds above, and he was still gathering more ki in intense concentration. The air was glowing gold around him from the ki leaking out, Vegeta couldn't control everything perfectly as his gathering speed was so close to his limits. Judging from the intensity of the ki release Goku felt, Vegeta had already gathered at least three times the amount of ki that he had unleashed earlier, with which he had blasted Buu into small pieces.

'Kakarot!' Vegeta called out. 'I don't care if this hits you too!'

Majin Buu looked and quickly approached Vegeta instead. But Vegeta wasn't ready yet! Goku quickly grabbed Majin Buu's foot and tried to toss it into the sky. Majin Buu fired an energy attack at Vegeta's gathered ki. Goku quickly released Buu and teleported in front of Buu's blast. Concentrating, he caught it and took control of the ki. As he tried to throw it back to Buu, he noticed Buu had taken the opportunity to attack from above. Goku quickly threw his ki at Buu and teleported in to attack from the other side. Goku's kick deflected Majin Buu's trajectory, it narrowingly missed Vegeta and crashed into the still burning ground.

'Get it above me Kakarot, I'm almost ready!' Vegeta commanded. 'I can't fire down, I'll blow up the planet!'

Vegeta had already gathered at least six times the energy from before now. There were constant streaks of lightning of immense intensity everywhere around him now.

'Hey Buu!' Goku called out, flying around. 'Scared to come out of the fire?!'

Majin Buu flew out of the fire at high speed, charging in at Goku. Goku had anticipated this and concentrated his ki.

'Taio-Ken!'

Goku blinded Majin Buu as it ascended and quickly dodged its approach.

'VEGETA!' Goku shouted. 'NOW!'

Vegeta aimed at Buu and fired with everything he had.

'FINAL FLASH!'

Goku quickly teleported behind Vegeta, not wanting to be anywhere close to Vegeta's attack. A blindingly bright golden beam erupted from the ball of ki Vegeta had gathered, at least ten metres in diameter. Lightning was arcing everywhere around the beam due to the extreme energy density. The beam completely enveloped Majin Buu several times over, it looked like Buu was caught right in the middle of the beam. Strong winds were picking up and blowing in chaotic motions, extinguishing the inferno on the ground. Goku crossed his arms across his face to shield himself from the violence. And the beam didn't seem to die down, more and more energy was erupting from Vegeta's extended hands, and Goku sensed Vegeta was even pouring some of his vital ki in it, similar to what Tenshinhan did with his Kikoho attack. Goku had never seen an attack even remotely as powerful as this one, even the Kamehameha Gohan had used to obliterate Cell paled in comparison. Majin Buu was tough, but there was absolutely no way Majin Buu would be able to survive this.

Eventually Vegeta ran out of energy and the last portions of his energy attack flew off into space. Vegeta was completely spent. He was panting heavily and turned back to his regular form, losing his Super Saiyan transformation.

'Never forget it,' he said panting. 'The wrath of Super Saiyans if you dare disrupt their battles or invade their home planets.'

'That was amazing Vegeta!' Goku praised. 'So I'll take care of Bobbidy and then…'

Bobbidy suddenly appeared right behind Vegeta from out of nowhere and blasted an energy attack straight through Vegeta's abdomen.

'Vegeta!' Goku exclaimed in horror.

'That's quite enough from you.' Bobbidy said calmly. 'Very impressive power, but all gone now.'

Goku quickly hurried and caught Vegeta as he fell. Vegeta's intestines were entirely blasted away.

'Vegeta! Are you alright?' Goku called out.

'Fuck you Kakarot, does it look like I'm alright?!' Vegeta struggled, spitting up blood in Goku's face. 'Why do I have to gaze upon your stupid face every time I die?!'

'Uhhh, I dunno. But at least you got that pink monster.'

'That's a small consolation.' Vegeta smiled, while Bobbidy was staring in sadistic pleasure at Vegeta dying. 'But Kakarot… finish off that Bobbidy guy for me… and then… when you die again after today… we'll finish our battle.'

'Yeah Vegeta, I'm looking forward to that.'

'Wow, he lingers pretty long.' Bobbidy noted curiously.

'Kakarot…' Vegeta struggled while coughing up a lot of blood again. 'Tell Bulma, and Trunks, I got that pink monster… before you go back… to being dead…'

Vegeta's body stopped moving and Goku sensed the last remaining ki in Vegeta's body vanish. He was gone.

Goku landed and laid Vegeta's body on the ground.

'I promise Vegeta.' Goku said. He looked at Bobbidy, who was looking amused at him, and flew back up to him.

'This is not just because you interrupted our battle.' Goku said, his voice filled with anger. 'You also hurt Gohan, and killed Piccolo, and Vegeta. I've had enough of you. It's time to end this.'

'It is not your place you filthy corpse.' Bobbidy scolded. 'You have no right to be here.'

'I don't care!' Goku called out. 'I don't care whether it is my place or not! I am here right now, and if ya don't like that, well, too bad for ya!'

Goku had had enough and attacked Bobbidy. He teleported above Bobbidy and kicked him in the head. He grabbed Bobbidy's arm as Bobbidy teleported, and teleported along with Bobbidy, punching his opponent repeatedly in the stomach. Anticipating Bobbidy's move, Goku teleported behind his opponent to dodge his fire breath. Bobbidy teleported and attacked Goku with a punch, but Goku had anticipated Bobbidy's move and caught his fist with his left hand. Goku launched several right-handed punches on Bobbidy's face, inflicting serious damage. Bobbidy released his fire breath again, only for Goku to release Bobbidy's fist and teleport again, appearing behind Bobbidy and kicking the latter in the neck. Bobbidy crashed into the ground at high speed, with Goku's foot still buried in his neck. Goku grabbed his opponent, threw him into the sky, and charged up his Kamehameha attack.

Suddenly Goku felt something wrapping rapidly around his body and squeezing, diminishing his Kamehameha attack. Looking down, he saw it was a flexible pink limb that was squeezing him, and to his horror Goku realised Majin Buu was still alive. How could it have possibly survived Vegeta's attack? It must have somehow put itself back together again.

'That one really hurt.' The pink monster said. 'But still ultimately pointless. Now it's your turn to die.'

Goku couldn't escape, Majin Buu's grip was far too tight. He couldn't even breathe. Without Vegeta's help he was all alone. In pure desperation, Goku took the only option he had left, hitting Buu with everything he had. Goku concentrated his ki in several places of his body to trigger the Kaio-Ken reaction for a second time. If he'd use his entire body in the Kaio-Ken attack, Goku couldn't even imagine how strong that blast would be. As Goku triggered his Kaio-Ken attack, he didn't hold back. He let it go, triggering it more and more. He felt his feet get absorbed and annihilated in the attack, rising up along his legs and his lower abdomen. The pain was unbelievable, but the attack was already way beyond Goku's control. All Goku could do was hope that this blast would be enough to destroy Majin Buu for good. Piece by piece, Goku's entire body converted into the dangerous chaotic energy of the Kaio-Ken. Son Goku, bound by Majin Buu, exploded in an extraordinary blast of chaotic, volatile, red energy which was burning away everything in its path.


	28. Meeting Master Korin

Videl and Gohan turned around and Gohan quickly bowed on his knees.

'Good day Master Korin.' Gohan said. 'I hope that everything is well here. It has indeed been a long time.'

Videl looked and completely forgot about bowing or proper etiquette. She had been expecting a wise old man, but instead she saw a large white cat. A large white cat standing comfortably on its hind legs, holding a wooden staff like a cane. If Erasa had been there with them she would have probably freaked out so much she'd have fallen through one of the holes in the floor.

'Umm, Videl.' Gohan whispered. 'He's a Master, you need to bow.'

'Oh that's alright, that's alright.' The white cat said.

 _What the hell?! This cat can talk?!_ _Is this cat Master Korin?!_

'It's not every day that you find a talking cat living on top of a tower, especially not one as old as me. But to answer your question Gohan, I'm doing a lot better than you are looking right now!'

Videl glanced at Gohan and suddenly realised Gohan was still wearing his goofy Great Saiyaman outfit. Or rather, he was wearing what was left of it after his fight with Dabura. It was covered in stains of blood and dirt, and torn in more places than she could count. She even recognised Erasa's dried up vomit on the shoes. Combined with the weird colouring scheme, Gohan resembled a dirty homeless guy forced to wear the random clothes he happened to possess, although his physique looked significantly better. Gohan turned red and quickly put his head down.

'I'm sorry Master Korin, I did not have the opportunity to change.'

'I'm just messing with you Gohan. When I first met your dad he called me a "shorty", and he sure never bowed to me, so you're already ahead of him.'

The cat walked over to Videl.

'Nice to meet you. My name is Master Korin.' Korin said, and he held out his paw. Videl awkwardly shook Korin's paw. She had never shaken hands with a cat before.

'Uhmm, hello, my name is Videl.'

After speaking, Videl suddenly remembered and bowed on her knees, while Gohan looked around.

'Is Yajirobe not here?'

'No, he had to go to the hospital.' Korin replied. 'The guy's too stubborn with his food. Only eating Senzu is bound to go wrong eventually. I'm sure he'll recover though, this is just a good lesson for him. I can only imagine what those poor folks at the hospital must be thinking when he has to explain how he got sick.'

'Why would you only eat Senzu?' Videl asked sceptically. 'That sounds stupid to me.'

'He's just too lazy to go down there and gather his own food. He prefers spending his time arguing with delivery companies over whether or not they should deliver here, saying this is technically the second floor. Their terms and conditions usually say they deliver up to the fifth floor if you don't have an elevator.'

Videl had met a lot of crazy people in her life, often people doing crazy stuff trying to meet her dad, and this story was right up there with the one fifty-year-old woman who had broken into their house and hid in her dad's bedroom wearing a bunny outfit.

Videl looked around the room they were in. It was a circular room, with the four holes in the floor through which they entered. The walls were curved somewhat upwards, continuing the trend she had noticed outside as well. Stashed along the wall were barrels on one side, a bathtub on another side, two beds, a bunch of buckets, some clothing cabinets, a toolbox, and there was also an open doorway to the outside where it looked like there was a staircase to a higher floor. The place was quite surreal, it had something very mystical but home-like at the same time.

'Anyway, would you like something to drink?'

Videl suddenly realised she was quite thirsty, she hadn't drunk anything since lunch.

'Yes please.'

Korin hopped over to a cupboard and grabbed three glasses, then filled them using a big water barrel. Apparently he didn't have any modern facilities like a tap or plumbing.

'Sorry, no tapwater here.' Korin said as if reading her mind, handing a glass of water to both Gohan and Videl. 'I don't have any plumbing here, far too expensive to build that into the Tower. You know how big a pump you need to pump water this high? Besides, I'm not even allowed to do it myself, the Tower counts as an ancient monument, so it falls under some sort of monument protection law.'

'Thank you for the water Master.' Gohan said bowing.

'So the old Turtle guy sent you over to me did he?' Korin said.

'Yes, Master Roshi said you were good at seeing the intentions of people, and thought you might be able to help me.'

'Well, when it comes to seeing the intentions of people, I'm the best.' Korin said. 'I can't just see their intentions though, I can read their minds.'

'Wait, for real?!' Videl exclaimed.

'Yep.' Korin said proudly. 'Yours too, like those dirty thoughts you're having about Gohan.'

'What're you…' Videl started confused, taking a few seconds to process that while Gohan turned red.

'I DO NOT HAVE DIRTY THOUGHTS ABOUT GOHAN!' Videl screamed angrily.

Korin didn't even flinch a centimetre.

'Just a minute ago you thought about those dirty clothes Gohan is wearing.' Korin said flatly. 'And when I just mentioned it you thought a lot more dirty things.'

'Well his clothes _are_ dirty!' Videl countered furiously. 'And I only thought about it because _you_ talked about it first!'

'Calm down, I'm just messing with ya Videl.' Korin simply said. 'You've got a bit of a temper don't you? No shame in liking a fine gentleman like Gohan here. You might learn something from him.'

Korin addressed Gohan again, while Videl was still fuming but unsure of how to act. She had never faced someone so rude but simultaneously indifferent to her.

'Anyway, you're here because you want to learn how to use your power right?'

'Yes Master.' Gohan said. 'I do not understand why I have such difficulty in summoning my power.'

'You're indeed a tricky one regarding that. Let's start with the beginning. What _do_ you know about summoning that power?'

'Well…' Gohan said. 'I know it comes when I'm angry.'

'Let's try that out.' Korin said, and he addressed Videl. 'Videl, you're the expert here on getting angry, why don't you help Gohan out?'

'Why don't you just drop it?!' Videl exclaimed, furious with Korin's repeated condescending remarks towards her.

'Because you're making it so easy for me.' Korin said, and he held up something with his tail. When Videl looked closer, she recognised it as her phone. 'But since you're asking so nicely, I'll drop it.'

With a flick of his tail, Korin tossed Videl's phone through the open door to the staircase, over the fence, down the tower.

'WHAT THE HELL!'

Videl ran through the door and looked down, she couldn't even see her phone anymore. She glared furiously at Korin.

'You can fly right?' Korin said.

Without a word, Videl jumped over the fence and flew down as fast as she could. When she'd get back up there she'd show that trickster cat... how did Korin even get her phone? And Gohan had said Korin was supposed to be nice.

As if by pure luck, Videl suddenly saw her phone falling. As she reached out to grab it in her own descent, her hand moved straight through, and the image of her phone faded.

 _What the… an illusion? That cat's been tricking me!_

Fuming, Videl flew back up along Korin Tower and entered their lower floor again. She immediately saw her phone still being held in Korin's tail.

'Hey! What's the big idea?!'

'Teehee, just a little joke.' Korin said. 'I didn't toss the real one, I don't have the money to replace that if you miss it.'

'You think that's funny?!' Videl exclaimed in fury. 'First insulting me and then pretending to toss my phone over the edge?!'

'I think you went more over the edge than that phone of yours.' Korin sniggered, and he turned to Gohan. 'What do you think Gohan? Is Videl the expert here at getting angry?'

'Well uhmm…' Gohan hesitated. Korin bonked him on the head with his staff.

'Come on Gohan, that was an easy question, you're way smarter than this.'

Videl interfered.

'Why don't you leave Gohan out of this?! This is between us!'

'I've still got your thing remember?' Korin said, teasingly waving his tail with Videl's phone around.

'Give it back!' Videl commanded, rushing towards the cat. As she reached to grab her phone, Korin suddenly stood on the other side of the room.

'What the…'

'Teehee, you're too slow Videl, pay more attention.' Korin teased.

Videl rushed in again, trying to focus on Korin's movements. This time she suddenly felt a tap on top of her head, causing her to almost fall through one of the holes in the floor.

'You're far too slow to catch me Videl.'

'Here Videl.' Gohan said, holding out her phone. Videl had no clue how Gohan had grabbed it, but she took the phone and put it back in her pocket.

'Thanks Gohan.'

'Darn Gohan, why'd you do that?' Korin exclaimed. 'Didn't she just say it was between me and her?'

'Well uhmm,' Gohan started. 'The phone belonged to her and well uhmm… I think it was wrong of you to steal it Master.'

'I was gonna give it back!' Korin said annoyed. 'I was just playing a little!'

Gohan started fidgeting with his hands again, nervous about Korin's rebuke.

'Well, I uhmm…' Gohan hesitated, before regaining his composure. 'I think you shouldn't be wasting our time playing these games and antagonising Videl. We came here for a reason! Piccolo already died and my father and Vegeta are now fighting for us!'

Korin took a sip of his water.

'Alright then. Follow me upstairs.' Korin said. 'Both of you.'

'Weren't you supposed to be able to read minds?' Videl suddenly realised with a hint of triumph in her voice. 'Couldn't you have seen Gohan's intentions of grabbing the phone beforehand?'

'Look!' Korin proclaimed, pointing his wooden staff to Videl as they were ascending the stairs. He suddenly halted causing Gohan to almost walk into him. 'You're finally using that brain of yours. That's great!'

Videl didn't understand what Korin meant.

'When did I steal your phone?' Korin asked.

'I don't know!' Videl said annoyed. She hadn't even seen it happening, how was she supposed to know?

Korin swiftly tapped her on her head with his staff. Videl didn't even see Korin move to do that, he was so fast, although the tap barely hurt.

'Come on, where's that brainpower of yours?' Korin said. He glanced at Gohan. 'Gohan, I know you saw it, you can't tell her. She's got to figure this out on her own.'

Videl was still angry, but apparently this was some sort of test. She had no clue where Korin wanted to go with this, but she might as well try to go along with it. Getting angry was clearly not going to work in her favour. She tried to think back. Suddenly she realised there were several opportunities for Korin to have done it.

'You took it…' Videl started, 'either when we shook hands for the first time, using your tail. Or when you gave me some water, or… when I was getting angry with your remark about… well, you know…'

'Not too bad.' Korin said. 'I indeed took it while you were getting all riled up over that. And you didn't see a thing. Gohan almost didn't see it either in his embarrassment, but his eyes are a lot faster than yours. Would've been great if I'd managed to fool Gohan too.'

Korin resumed climbing the stairs, with Gohan and Videl following.

'But now for the hard question. To both of you.' Korin said. ' _Why_ did I steal the phone?'

'To bully me.' Videl immediately answered. 'Or to prove to Gohan I'm good at getting angry.'

'Wrong, and wrong.' Korin said. 'Although you are indeed very easy to anger.'

Videl got annoyed at that last remark, did Korin really have to add that? But she didn't allow herself to get angry again, she wasn't going to give Korin that satisfaction. She wouldn't be such an easy victim any longer. Videl tried to think. Why else would Korin steal her phone? She looked around, Korin probably didn't have any electricity either in his house, same as with the plumbing. Korin didn't seem to have any use for her phone, and he also said he was going to give it back anyway.

'What about you Gohan?' Korin said. 'Do you have an idea?'

'Well uhmm… to show Videl how fast you are?'

'Can't really show off my speed if she doesn't have the eyes or the calmness to see me move right?' Korin said simply. 'Besides, don't you think I could come up with better ways of showing how fast I am than that?'

Videl got impatient. Gohan was right. What were they even doing? Weren't they supposed to help Gohan learn how to control his powers? What were they doing messing around about her phone and Korin's shenanigans? Suddenly Videl realised it. It was never about the phone, or the act of stealing it, or even about her specifically.

'You stole my phone…' Videl said slowly, 'and then you antagonised me with it… to see if your behaviour towards me would make Gohan angry, because Gohan's power comes out when he gets angry.'

Krillin pointed his staff at Videl again.

'Now _there's_ that brainpower of yours!' Korin proclaimed. 'You're a smart one, that's pretty close.'

They entered the upstairs room. Well, it was not really a room. For one, it didn't have any walls. The ceiling was instead held up by a series of pillars placed along the outside of the floor. And very prominently in the centre of the floor, there was a statue which resembled the art Videl had seen earlier on the tower itself. It was completely circular, about two metres tall, and there was an arrangement of six identical creatures on top. Upon closer inspection, the creatures looked like tiny elephant statues, maybe about twenty centimetres in length, all standing on their hind legs, and leaning with their front legs against a pedestal in their centre. And on top of that pedestal stood a flask that looked important. Not just due to its prominent position, but also because of its detailed decoration. It looked like the kind of flask ancient rulers would drink their exquisite drinks from in their palaces.

'What's in there?' Videl asked.

'Do you know the legend of Korin Tower?' Korin asked. 'The folks down below pass it down from generation to generation.'

It didn't ring any bells for Videl. Before today she had never even heard of Korin Tower, although she did remember Gohan saying Korin Tower was sacred to the people living in those tents. Korin started speaking.

'They say that he who manages to climb Korin Tower with his own bare hands, all the way to the top, will find an old Hermit Master named Korin who guards the Holy Water. And whoever drinks this Holy Water will find his strength increased manifold.'

'So that's the Holy Water the legend speaks of?' Videl noted curiously.

'Yep, that's it.' Korin said. 'Although I'm not one to discriminate, if a lady would climb up here she could also drink it for the same benefits. The writers of legendary texts never bother making them gender-neutral. But before you get any ideas, you didn't climb the tower with your own bare hands, you just used your ki to fly up here, that doesn't count.'

'Well, if Gohan drank it, then wouldn't he stand a better chance against those monsters who want to destroy the world?' Videl asked eagerly. 'I mean, I get he didn't climb the tower either, but this is the end of the world we're talking about. Surely you could make an exception.'

'Gohan is already way too strong to be affected by the Holy Water.' Korin said. 'It wouldn't change him at all. You'd probably get a lot stronger from it though, but nowhere near enough to compete with those monsters.'

Korin took another sip from his water.

'Anyway, we were talking about me stealing that phone of yours, and how I was trying to get Gohan angry.' Korin turned to Gohan. 'What do you think? Did you get angry?'

'Well uhmm,' Gohan said. 'Maybe a little bit. It didn't feel right that you were antagonising her so much, and it also felt wrong that you were wasting time with stupid games, but I didn't feel any strength coming like what generally happens when I get mad. I guess it takes a lot more than that for me to get angry enough.'

'I guess that makes sense.' Korin said. 'But you still decided to steal that phone back. I didn't tell you to do that.'

Gohan stayed silent, fidgeting with his hands again.

'I wasn't expecting you to get so mad your power would increase because of it.' Korin said. 'I was experimenting to see what you would do. I wanted to force you into a dilemma. Witnessing the injustice of me bullying your friend, and either letting me get away with it because I'm an old Master and you need me to help you, or stepping up for your own sense of judgement. You chose the latter.'

'I do not understand Master.' Gohan said confused. 'Why would you want to see what I would do?'

Korin looked outside and Gohan quickly looked too. Videl quickly saw what it was, some kind of red light was visible in the distance. It wasn't the sun, but it was something else. Gohan flew outside and started concentrating his ki.

'What's going on?' Videl asked confused, as she suddenly sensed ki arriving that wasn't coming from Gohan. It was extremely chaotic, even more chaotic than the ki she remembered from Goku's Kaio-Ken, there was no order to be felt anywhere in it.

Gohan suddenly transformed into that golden-haired Super Saiyan, and Videl sensed his ki skyrocket as the chaotic ki was increasing in intensity too.

'Hold on!' Korin commanded to her.

Gohan increased his ki output, spreading it like a golden wall in front of the entire top of the tower. The chaotic ki lessened a bit with Gohan's protection but increased rapidly again. Gohan continued strengthening his shield, but it felt like he just couldn't keep up with it. Winds started blowing rapidly in varying directions and the entire tower started shaking violently. Videl had no clue what was going on, but she quickly grabbed onto one of the pillars. The flask of Holy Water was thrown off from its pedestal, Korin quickly used his staff to catch it. Videl then noticed the floor started tearing.

'The Tower's gonna collapse!' Korin yelled and Videl shrieked terrified as she noticed the pillar she was holding for dear life was tearing apart.

Gohan looked around and saw the entire tower tearing. And then, something changed in his expression and Gohan's ki skyrocketed beyond any proportion Videl thought even remotely possible. But it felt gentle, Gohan's ki felt ridiculously strong without feeling threatening or chaotic. The golden shield of ki Gohan had put up started shining brightly, and the shaking and the winds quickly lessened, and the tearing of the tower stopped. Gohan kept his shield up for about half a minute, until his ki quieted down and he turned back to his regular state. Whatever it was that was causing the chaos seemed to have stopped.

'What was that?' Videl asked in a daze.

'An explosion.' Korin answered. 'The biggest I've ever seen, by far. Thanks Gohan.'

'H-he's gone…' Gohan said quietly.

'What do you mean?' Videl asked.

'I-it was… the Kaio-Ken.' Gohan said shaking. 'My father was the only one who c-could use it.'

Videl thought for a moment trying to make sense of what Gohan was saying.

'So… your dad caused that explosion?'

'I c-can't sense his energy signal anymore.' Gohan said. 'T-the Kaio-Ken, it killed him.'

'But wasn't he already dead?' Videl asked confused.

Gohan didn't reply.

'That's real sad.' Korin said. 'But on the bright side, I don't think those bad guys could survive something like that.'

'I hope so.' Gohan said absentminded.

'Hey Gohan.' Korin said. 'That was some enormous power you just showed there. I reckon you just proved that you can summon that power of yours without getting angry.'


	29. Preternatural Assault

Erasa saw Gohan and Videl fly off into the distance. Despite having already seen several people fly today it still looked completely unnatural to her. Her instincts kept telling her they should be falling, she wondered if she would ever get used to it. A part of her wished she'd decided to go along with them, she didn't really know anyone here. Goten floated into her field of view.

'Hey Miss Erasa!' Goten proclaimed. 'So if you want to fly, you just do it like this.'

Goten floated up and down in the airplane. Erasa had no idea how Goten did that. She remembered Videl saying it was ki that made them fly, or something like that.

'Uhm, Goten.' Erasa said. 'I don't know how to do the ki thing.'

'You just, you know, take your ki and push it down, like this.' Goten said, and he ascended into the air.

Erasa was more confused than ever. She hadn't expected Goten to be a good teacher, but now she was starting to get worried he'd get really disappointed if she continued to not even understand anything.

'How do you – how did you say it – take your ki?'

'I dunno, you just, feel it.' Goten said. 'Like this.'

Goten flew around the cabin area. That didn't help at all! Six-year-olds were terrible teachers.

'But I don't feel any ki.' Erasa said, trying to keep her composure while feeling really dumb. If it was so easy for a six-year-old kid… 'Maybe I just don't have any ki.'

Krillin joined them.

'You do have ki.' Krillin said. 'Everyone has it.'

Krillin addressed Goten.

'Hey there little guy.' Krillin said friendly, and moved his head closer to Goten, as if telling him a secret, although still speaking loudly enough so that Erasa could hear him. 'Miss Erasa isn't very smart, she doesn't know anything about ki, so you've got to explain everything very clearly, otherwise she won't get it. But that shouldn't be a problem for a good teacher like you right?'

'Oh, okay!' Goten called out, while Krillin smiled at Erasa.

'Why don't you start explaining how to feel your ki, how to find it, before going to the flying part?' Krillin suggested.

Erasa turned her attention back to Goten, curious to see how he'd try to explain it this time.

'So, like, to feel your ki, you just, you concentrate and relax at the same time you know?' Goten attempted.

Erasa tried to relax. It wasn't easy with all the stuff that had been happening today. Erasa was sure she wouldn't even be able to sleep at all by the time it was going to be night, way too much had already happened. Heck, she probably would be sleepless for the next week or so. How could she even relax at a time like this, with the world potentially in danger? What did Goten say again, concentrate and relax… Concentrate on what?

'On what do I have to concentrate?' Erasa asked.

'On your ki!'

Erasa tried to be patient, she could tell from Goten's expression he was really trying his best to teach her. Erasa secretly envied Videl now for having had a much better teacher, but she would still try her best. After all, Goten was trying his best too.

'So, where is my ki?' Erasa asked. 'Wait, why don't you point to where your ki is?'

Goten pointed to his tummy, close to the centre of his body.

'My ki is right there Miss Erasa.'

'Oooh.' Erasa said. 'Okay then.'

Erasa tried to follow Goten's directions. She tried to relax and concentrate on the centre of her body, trying to not think of anything else. But she didn't feel anything. If it had been that easy everyone would probably already be flying. But Videl managed to do it. Would Videl and Gohan have already made it to that Master Korin guy? _Darn it Erasa, you got distracted! Try again!_

Erasa tried to relax for the next couple of minutes but she didn't feel anything. All she felt was her own stomach, the clothes she was wearing, the contact she made with her seat, but nothing special. Maybe she was feeling it without realising it.

'How does ki feel like?' Erasa asked.

'Well uhmm, kinda like a tickle, or a candle.' Goten said.

'You'll know it when you find it, but it takes time.' Krillin said.

'How much time?'

'Impossible to say, it varies so much from person to person. It took me several days until I felt anything.'

Erasa tried again. After a few minutes she felt her weight decrease slightly. Was she about to fly? She was sure of it, she was definitely on to something and she couldn't help but feel excited about it!

'I feel it! I'm going to fly!' Erasa proclaimed excitedly, and everyone started looking at her.

'Uhmm, Erasa…' Krillin whispered. 'You're not actually using your ki, Yamcha just started the descent to the next Dragon Ball. You just felt the plane descending.'

'Oh.' Erasa said disappointed, feeling really dumb and embarrassed.

'You're real slow aren't you?' Goten told Erasa, obliviously rubbing it in.

'Well how long did it take you until you felt anything?' Erasa retaliated, doing her best to hide her disappointment.

'I don't remember!' Goten said simply. 'But it can't have been that long if I don't remember right?'

The plane landed. As soon as the door opened Erasa felt blazing heat coming out from outside. It was hot out there. Looking around, they were in some sort of barren desert area. All she could see around her was sand. Erasa didn't really know how to help out with searching the Dragon Ball, Bulma would probably find it quickly anyway with her Dragon Radar, just like the first Dragon Ball. What could she do in the meantime? She could try to fly again but she was too worried about everything going on, she knew she couldn't relax. And the embarrassment of her previous failure was still prominently in her mind. It was probably better to ask Videl to teach her once this was all over. Erasa looked back at Goten. He looked somewhat sad. Erasa felt sorry for him, he was probably worried about Gohan. Learning how to fly was evidently not going to work out today, but she still wanted to help him out a bit. Perhaps it could provide some distraction for her as well. She could do with a bit less worrying about flying or the end of the world.

'Hey Goten…' Erasa said, approaching him. 'It's hot here isn't it?'

Goten looked up to her and smiled.

'Yeah, it's really hot.'

'Why don't we get into the airplane and get some water?'

'That sounds great!'

They went back into the airplane, which Bulma left out of its capsule, and Erasa poured some water from an available tap. _This airplane has freaking everything, from diving gear to water taps!_

'What was it like meeting your father today Goten?' Erasa asked while handing Goten his glass of water. 'I heard this is the first time you've ever seen him.'

'My dad's great!' Goten said happily. 'He's real strong and real nice too. I don't want him to go away again after today.' Goten added sad.

Erasa felt sorry for him. Even though she still despised Goku's behaviour after Goten and Trunks fought Vegeta, it was obvious Goten experienced it differently. And Gohan had also defended his father several times today. Maybe Gohan was right and Erasa just didn't know Goku at all.

'I know, that's really no fun is it?' Erasa added caringly. 'But you'll still have your mom and Gohan right?'

'But it's no fair.' Goten said angrily. 'Trunks gets to have a dad and I don't.'

'I know Goten.' Erasa said, lowering down to him. 'What do you think, is Trunks maybe jealous that you have a big brother and he doesn't? Gohan is kinda cool too isn't he?'

'Yeah, he is. But Gohan isn't home as much anymore. He has to go to school all the time.'

Erasa wanted to comfort Goten, saying Gohan would be home more often, but school didn't work like that. Erasa suddenly spotted something moving, close to the entrance of the airplane. She shrieked.

'Eek! What's that?'

Goten looked too. It was a strange red creature, not like anything Erasa had ever seen before, about seventy centimetres in length. It had six legs and was walking on the rear four ones. It was not like a bug, it looked more like a mammal or reptile. It had four orange eyes which were glowing and several horns on its head.

'I don't know.'

Erasa suddenly saw something else. In its front two legs, arms, limbs, or whatever they were, it was carrying a bag out of the airplane. And she recognised the bag, it was the bag in which she and Bulma had stored the two Dragon Balls they'd found earlier. Was this creature the Eternal Dragon? No, it couldn't be, they still needed to collect several more Dragon Balls, and it hadn't granted a wish yet either.

'It took the Dragon Balls!' Erasa called out. 'Goten, get it!'

The red creature ran outside around the corner and Goten quickly flew after it. The creature turned around and released a lot of fire from its mouth. Goten barely avoided the flames. Erasa then saw something else through the airplane window. Some sort of weird gateway was in the air outside. She had never seen anything like it before, as if there was some kind of warped reality or different world in there. What was that? And the red creature ran into it with the bag. Goten quickly flew after it.

'NO GOTEN!' Erasa yelled. 'THAT'S DANGEROUS!'

Erasa immediately ran after Goten without thinking about the risks. Gohan would never forgive her if something happened to Goten, but Goten flew into the gateway anyway. Erasa ran in after him, she had to get him back! As soon as she stepped through the gateway, she felt the temperature skyrocket. It was like a hot furnace in here, even hotter than the desert outside. Where was Goten?

'Goten?!' Erasa called out. 'Where are you?'

Goten showed up.

'I'm right here Miss Erasa.' Goten said. 'What's that funny thing behind you doing?'

Erasa turned around. The gateway through which they had come was shrinking rapidly. Erasa lunged at it but she was too late, and the gateway disappeared. They were trapped.

* * *

'Hey Yamcha!' Bulma called, studying her Dragon Radar. They were about two hundred metres away from the airplane now. 'The Dragon Ball should be underneath the sand here.'

Yamcha started digging in the sand, but quickly flinched.

'Ouch, that sand's hot as hell!'

'Oh quit your whining Yamcha.'

As he was digging Bulma saw something move in the corner of her eye.

'Hey, what's that?'

Trunks, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, Krillin, Lazuli, Marron, Chi-Chi, Master Roshi, and Chi-Chi's dad all looked. Several weird circular gateways were forming in the sky, kind of like portals. The world behind it looked vague and chaotic, as if looking through rapidly running water, or through fire, it couldn't be made out. And red creatures started crawling out of those portals.

'O-okay guys, what the hell are those things?' Krillin asked anxiously, and Marron started crying.

The creatures had various sizes and shapes, but they were all red with glowing orange eyes. There were at least twenty of them. Some of them had wings, not like a bird but more like a bat. Some had four eyes, others had two. Some had six limbs, others had four. The creatures opened their mouths and sprayed fire from them towards the human group. Bulma shrieked and felt herself getting carried into the sky. As she looked, she saw Yamcha was carrying her. She also saw Krillin carrying his crying daughter next to Lazuli. Only one other person was on Bulma's mind at that time.

'Trunks!' Bulma yelled.

'I'm right here mom!'

Trunks was standing on the ground in his Super Saiyan form, he had clearly managed to dodge the fire and was seemingly unharmed. What a relief! But those red monsters were still there.

'Take care of Marron!' Lazuli commanded to Krillin, and she attacked the red creatures that were flying up to them.

An all-out battle ensued that was way too wide-scale and way too fast for Bulma to follow. She saw Lazuli, Chi-Chi, Chi-Chi's dad, Trunks, Master Roshi, and Tenshinhan all fight while Krillin and Yamcha were holding Marron and herself respectively. She saw Chi-Chi's dad chop off the heads of several creatures with his axe. She saw Chi-Chi kick several monsters in the head with a very athletic fighting style. She saw the fiery breath of the monsters somehow absorb energy attacks from Tenshinhan, and she saw several monsters getting fried by lightning coming from Master Roshi's hands soon after. Most monsters were slaughtered mercilessly by Lazuli and Tenshinhan, who were the top performers on their side.

After a minute or so, the three monsters that still survived fled through those weird portals that were still present, and the gateways vanished. All the other monsters were dead. Yamcha and Krillin descended and put Bulma and Marron back on the ground. Bulma saw Trunks was seemingly unhurt and sighed relieved.

'Is everyone all right?' Yamcha called out.

'It looks like it.' Krillin said.

Chi-Chi suddenly screamed loudly.

'GOTEN?!' Chi-Chi cried out. 'WHERE'S GOTEN?!'

They all looked around, but Goten was not to be found anywhere.

'I saw the young boy,' a voice said.

It was Namu, the older fighter that had been travelling with them, who had asked Bulma to help out his village. He was running towards them from the airplane.

'Daddy, that light's scary!' Marron said while still crying, pointing in the distance and distracting them all. They all looked, it was a red light far away, but bright enough to still be seen here.

'Oh no!' Tenshinhan exclaimed, and he quickly hurried to the airplane and put it in its capsule. Winds were quickly picking up. Krillin brought the crying Marron to Bulma, who held her.

'Watch her!'

Krillin, Tenshinhan, Lazuli, Yamcha, and Master Roshi were standing in front of the rest and seemed to concentrate hard. To Bulma, it looked like they were concentrating their ki, although she had never learned how to sense it. Together, they formed some sort of shield of light, protecting them. Trunks quickly joined them, still in his Super Saiyan form. Bulma tried to scream to her son, but he couldn't hear her, the winds were too loud already and the whirling sand made it hard to see. The gusts didn't feel like normal wind, they didn't seem to have any particular direction. Rather, they were rapidly changing directions all the time. Bulma was blown back, and Chi-Chi's father quickly grabbed her arm. All Bulma could do was hold on to Marron as best as she could while Chi-Chi's father was her only connection to the ground. After about a minute the violence went down again and they could breathe easily again.

'That was a big one.' Master Roshi said. 'I don't think I've ever experienced an explosion as big as that one.'

'Never mind that!' Chi-Chi cried and she grabbed Namu by his robes. 'What happened to Goten?!'

'I-I saw him… and the young g-girl… they were in the airplane…' Namu struggled while spitting out sand. 'I was just going to the bathroom… and then they chased a strange red creature outside. The creature had taken a bag from the airplane… and the boy, and the girl… they went after it through that strange thing in the sky. I tried to save them, but the thing disappeared b-before I c-could get to them… I am really sorry.'

'H-He w-went through there?!' Chi-Chi cried out in horror. 'My poor baby boy with those horrible monsters?!'

Chi-Chi fainted in the sand, and Bulma felt terrible too. It felt like a piece was ripped out of her heart. Goten might not have been biological family, but Goku and Gohan were emotionally close enough to be considered family by Bulma. Trunks started pulling on Bulma's arm.

'What does that mean? Where did Goten go?'

'He went in there, where those red monsters came from.' Bulma replied quietly.

'Well why don't we go and save him?!'

Bulma didn't reply, she had no clue where exactly Goten was, and even less of a clue how to get there herself.

'But Marron is still here.' Lazuli said. 'Who is the young girl you spoke of?'

'The older girl, the one who was with the short black-haired girl a lot first.'

'So Erasa is also gone…' Krillin concluded horrified. 'Anyone have an idea what kinds of monsters they were, or what kind of world that was they came from?'

Nobody seemed to have any idea.

'Let's collect the Dragon Balls first.' Tenshinhan said. 'Surely the Dragon Balls will be able to help get them back. We need to focus on what we _can_ do.'

They all agreed. Bulma whipped out her Dragon Radar to collect the third Dragon Ball, it should still be around here. While they were searching, Krillin had more bad news.

'Guys. I can't sense the energy signals of Goku or Vegeta anymore.'

'Me neither.' Tenshinhan suddenly noted. 'And now that you mention it, that explosion was about where Goku and Vegeta were fighting wasn't it?'

It felt like another bite was taken out of Bulma's heart. She couldn't handle more, and refused to listen to the rest of the conversation. Trunks not understanding what it meant about his father, everyone else discussing it, it was all background noise to her. First seeing Gohan in that horrible state, then seeing Gohan in so much pain over Piccolo's death, then Goten and that sweet girl Erasa gone, and now Goku and Vegeta gone too… it was too much. But if they just had the Dragon Balls, they could bring everything back right? Even though Vegeta, Piccolo, and Goku couldn't be revived, surely they would find some way around that. Once they had the Dragon Balls, everything would be alright. Bulma kept repeating that in her mind and started digging by herself, ignoring the incredible heat of the sand.

Before long she had dug up the third Dragon Ball from the blistering sand, uncaring about the resulting burn wounds on her hands. Tenshinhan uncapsuled the airplane and the still unconscious Chi-Chi was carried in by her father. How would she respond if they told her Goku was gone too once she woke up?

 _Come on Bulma, positive thoughts! You found the Dragon Ball right?_

As Bulma wanted to store away the one-star Dragon Ball in the bag they had, she couldn't find the bag anywhere.

 _No, not this crap too! Not at a time like this! Where are they?!_

Desperate, Bulma grabbed her Dragon Radar and turned it on. Studying the readings, she could only pick up the traces of five Dragon Balls, and only one of them was at their current location. The two they had collected earlier were gone! As soon as she reached that conclusion, it felt like the ground collapsed underneath her. Bulma collapsed on her knees. The bag the red monster had taken, the one that Namu had mentioned, it must have contained the two Dragon Balls they had already collected! And without those two they couldn't make any wishes! Without those two, the rest were useless! And apparently those two Dragon Balls were now in some sort of incomprehensible unknown world where even the Dragon Radar could not find them!

* * *

 **Author's note: 29 chapters already, and I finally reached 100 followers to this story. Over 60 people even added this story to their favourites, and this is the first time I'm ever writing fiction. I'm pretty sure we're over the half-way point of the story now, but there's still plenty more to come.**

 **I hope I was able to surprise everyone with the events in this chapter. It definitely took a turn for the dark here, and I hope it'll help build some more tension in the story. It's difficult to estimate how much of the mysterious origins of the red monsters is still a mystery to the readers and how much you can already guess or predict, it's probably something that varies from person to person.**

 **Thank you all so much for the supportive reviews and comments, it is much appreciated. Feel free to share your thoughts, reviews, criticism, and so on either in the reviews section or send a PM to me.**


	30. Namu's Village

'Mom! Mom!'

Bulma looked. It was Trunks, together with everyone else.

'Mom! What's wrong?!'

'The D-Dragon B-Balls…' Bulma stuttered. 'The two w-we gathered…, they're gone!'

'Huh? What do you mean?!' Krillin asked shocked.

'The… the red monster that Goten and Erasa were chasing, it must have taken them. There's no other explanation. I can't see them anymore on the Radar.'

'Are you sure the Dragon Radar isn't just broken?' Krillin replied desperately. 'Maybe that enormous explosion damaged it somehow.'

Bulma considered this, but there was no visible damage whatsoever on the Dragon Radar. And there was also something else.

'I'm sure of it Krillin.' Bulma said quietly. 'I can still see the other five, including those four that we haven't found yet. If those two Dragon Balls were still here their signal should be much stronger, you know… because they'd be closer.'

'So, what do we do now?' Yamcha asked. 'Without those two we can't make any wishes!'

'We need to figure out why those monsters took the Dragon Balls.' Master Roshi said. 'I'm sure this was a targeted attack. That other group was sent as a diversion so that the two in the airplane could be stolen.'

'If they're after the Dragon Balls, why didn't they take that one too?' Tenshinhan asked, pointing to the one-star ball Bulma was still holding.

'Maybe they hoped to overpower us and take that one by force, but failed?' Lazuli offered.

'I mean, why not take it before we even got here?' Tenshinhan said to clarify his point.

'Maybe they don't know how to find them?' Krillin said. 'Maybe they found us somehow and found the Dragon Balls through us.'

'We're missing something.' Master Roshi said. 'If they can't detect them themselves, why already expose yourself so early? Why not wait until we had gathered more? And if they can, why not take them beforehand?'

'Maybe they feared being detected before making their move.' Lazuli said thoughtfully. 'Even if they don't know how to detect Dragon Balls, they still managed to find us. Either it was a complete coincidence that they just happened to attack us while we were here, or they were following us somehow.'

'Or they just happened to find this one before we did, and then waited until we showed up to steal more.' Krillin said.

'Can you still sense the ki of Goten and Erasa?' Bulma asked.

Krillin tried to concentrate, as did everyone else.

'No, I can't sense them at all.' Krillin said disappointed and somewhat frightened.

'I can't either! Does that mean they're dead?!' Trunks exclaimed in a panic.

'I don't think so.' Bulma said. 'Namu said they went into one of those gateways to the world where those monsters came from. If we can't detect the Dragon Ball signal from there, it makes sense that we can't sense the ki signal from Goten and Erasa either if they're in there.'

'But, then… how are we going to get Goten back?!' Trunks exclaimed. 'Those weird things are gone!'

'I don't know.' Bulma admitted. She had no clue. She didn't even know what kind of weird world it was. Another timeline, the afterlife, another dimension, teleportation to a distant planet, there was no way of knowing.

'If those things are after the Dragon Balls, don't you think they could come back?' Ox King offered. 'Maybe that could be our chance.'

'You want to go in there too and get trapped?' Bulma asked.

'Well, no I don't want to! But if there's a chance it'd save my grandson I would!'

'You're right.' Tenshinhan said. 'I'll come with you to save them.'

'Do you really think they'll come back?' Lazuli asked sceptically. 'We completely slaughtered those monsters last time.'

'Well, the two Dragon Balls they stole are useless without the rest.' Krillin said. 'And they must have stolen those two for a reason.'

'Well, maybe that reason is to prevent _us_ from using them.' Lazuli said grimly.

'That's a possibility, but we don't have any evidence either way.' Master Roshi said. 'If they don't come back we'll need to find a different way to get there, but if they do we could take advantage of that. I think we should collect the remaining Dragon Balls to make ourselves a bigger target and draw them out.'

'I'm taking Marron away if that's what we're doing!' Lazuli argued. 'I'm not exposing her to that kind of danger!'

'I'll go with you.' Krillin said. 'Let's take her to the lookout.'

'Why not home?'

'Because Dende can see a lot from up there, he may have seen some things we don't know about yet, and we need more information.'

'That's a great idea Krillin.' Yamcha said. 'If you're going there, you should also tell Gohan what happened. He has a right to know.'

'I don't think that's an easy thing to tell him.' Krillin hesitated. 'It's his brother we're talking about! You know he'll blame himself for being gone while it happened.'

'You can't hide everything from him Krillin.' Lazuli said strictly. 'If you won't tell them I will. Yamcha is right, he has a right to know! He's not the little kid you need to protect from the truth anymore. Now let's go.'

Lazuli picked up her daughter and flew off without waiting for a reply. Krillin quickly followed.

'Have a safe flight!' Yamcha called out after them, and he turned to the rest of the group. 'So what's next for us? Finding those last four Dragon Balls before those monsters get them?'

'Yes.' Tenshinhan said. 'And then we'll meet them again at the lookout and discuss our next move from there.'

'Sounds like a plan to me.' Master Roshi said. 'Or at least as much a plan as you can make with the limited information we have.'

'Wait…' Bulma hesitated. 'What if Goten and Erasa manage to escape that world and end up back here while we're gone? They'll be all alone in the desert!'

'We'll be able to sense their ki signals in that case.' Tenshinhan said. 'Then we'll pick them up right away.'

Bulma didn't feel comfortable with it, but she didn't really know any alternatives either, so they took off again.

'So where's the next one?' Yamcha asked.

'It looks to be straight to the south.' Bulma replied absent-minded.

'Hey Bulma, you okay?'

Bulma wasn't okay, it felt pointless to continue their Dragon Ball collection with the two earlier ones stolen. Chi-Chi was still passed out, Goten and Erasa were missing and possibly dead, Piccolo had already died, Vegeta and Goku were both gone and possibly dead, it was pretty much impossible to stay positive.

'I don't know… what if we're just leading those monsters to collect the rest?' Bulma said quietly.

'That's the entire idea Bulma, drawing them out so we can get Goten and Erasa back.' Yamcha said.

'How do you know if they're even alive in there?!'

'Mom!' Trunks exclaimed. 'Are you saying Goten is dead? I don't wanna give up without even trying! Goten's dad came back when he was dead too, why can't Goten come back?!'

'Well I'm not giving up on my grandson like that Bulma!' Ox King called out. 'Goten's strong, he's not one to die quickly! If there's any chance to get him back I'm not giving up!'

'Ox King is right.' Master Roshi said. 'And even if Goten is gone, we may still recover those stolen Dragon Balls this way and bring both of them back with a wish.'

'Well I don't like talking about death that way!' Bulma snapped back. 'The poor kid's only six years old, no child should experience something like that!'

'Bulma I agree.' Master Roshi tried to calm her down. 'But unless you manage to make some kind of device that allows us to travel there and pick them up, there's nothing else we _can_ do.'

Bulma's negativity was clearly not appreciated, so she kept quiet for the rest of the trip. She knew she couldn't make a device like that, at least not without any kind of information on what kind of dimension or world it even was she was trying to get to. The situation was dreadful and she couldn't think of a good way to make things better. She just got stuck on not having any information nor a complete set of Dragon Balls. Bulma then thought of something else.

'Hey guys…' Bulma started. 'I don't think it's a coincidence that those monsters appeared on the same day as this whole Majin Buu business happened.'

'I don't think so either, there's got to be some connection, but what's your point?' Tenshinhan asked.

'Well, if Goten and Erasa disappeared into that world, do you think it's possible that Vegeta and Goku could also still be alive?' Bulma offered. 'Maybe they ended up in that world too somehow.'

'Goku was already dead.' Tenshinhan said.

'You know what I mean!' Bulma snapped. She was not in the mood for wisecracking comments.

'Well, I think it's a possibility.' Tenshinhan said. 'But that explosion was insane, if either of them was still there I don't think they could have survived that. We were thousands of kilometres away and we still felt that much power.'

Bulma didn't care. For Goku it probably didn't matter much, he was doomed to go back anyway by the end of the day, although Bulma had wanted to at least say goodbye to him. But for Vegeta it mattered, and Bulma grabbed onto the possibility, regardless of how remote, that Vegeta was still alive.

Chi-Chi woke up.

'What happened?'

'You fainted again dear.' Ox King said. 'But we've got a plan to get Goten back.'

Chi-Chi seemed to realise again what had happened and tears formed in her eyes.

'My poor Goten!' Chi-Chi cried. 'How can we get him back?!'

'We're collecting the Dragon Balls, it looks like the monsters are after them.' Master Roshi said. 'We'll lure them back out, we'll destroy them and then get them both out of there!'

'Good!' Chi-Chi spoke venomously. She then issued several threats to the red monsters Bulma was sure Chi-Chi would never speak out loud if Goten had still been present.

'That's the spirit dear!' Ox King said. 'Well, apart from the language I guess… I'll join you, I'll do anything to save my grandson!'

'Excuse me…' Namu spoke. 'But we are close to my village, could you drop me off? I am worried about my people, especially after that explosion.'

'What do you think Bulma?' Yamcha asked.

'I think we should check it out, maybe we can be of help. That was a big explosion. We still have a Dragon Ball, so there's no immediate need to collect the rest, those red monsters will come when they come anyway.'

'Alright then.' Yamcha said, and he landed the airplane in the desert next to Namu's village.

As the group exited the airplane Bulma was met with another feeling of dread. The village was completely destroyed, the buildings were nothing but ruins. Faint cries of children were audible over the eerie atmosphere.

'Damn…' Yamcha said quietly.

'Namu!'

A man who looked to be in his forties with a dark skin tone came running to him. He was completely bald, slim, and only wore white robes.

'Ami!'

'Oh Namu, I am so glad you are here!' The man proclaimed in tears. 'About fifteen minutes ago there was this bright red light in the east. And then the winds came that destroyed everything.' He looked at the rest of the newcomers.

'Who are those people?'

'They are good people.' Namu replied. 'I met them at the Tournament.'

Namu turned his attention to the group.

'Allow me to introduce you, this is my brother Ami.'

'If you are good people, can you help us?' Ami begged. 'Several people got injured when the winds came, including my children! We need medical aid!'

'Hey Bulma, we've got Senzu right?' Yamcha said.

'Yeah, I should have.' Bulma replied, checking her pockets. But she didn't find anything. 'Wait, I had those Senzu on me, I remember checking when we flew off from the Tournament.'

Tenshinhan realised something.

'Could Videl still have them? She had them when we brought Gohan to you.'

'Oh shit you're right!' Bulma realised in shock. 'I showed them to her and Erasa and didn't think about it when Videl and Gohan flew off!'

'I didn't think about it either when they left!' Chi-Chi exclaimed. 'Do we have anything else in the airplane?'

'We've got medical supplies, bandages and stuff.' Bulma realised, and she ran into the airplane. She looked through the capsule storage in there and found her emergency buildings and medical supplies. She took all the capsules she might need, and suddenly realised something else. She grabbed the one-star Dragon Ball and ran outside, where she put the airplane in its capsule.

'Why did you put the airplane in its capsule?' Chi-Chi asked.

'I don't want more of those creepy red monsters sneaking in there.' Bulma replied. She threw another capsule away and a big building appeared.

'What is that?' Namu asked.

'It's my hospital and shelter. I always have it in the airplane just in case.' Bulma replied proudly. 'Bring all the injured in there. Trunks, stick with Yamcha and help those people.'

'But why aren't we helping Goten?!' Trunks argued.

Bulma didn't know how to explain to Trunks that they couldn't help Goten right now. But she had to try, Goten was his best friend.

'Because, well…' Bulma hesitated. 'Because we don't know _how_ we can help Goten right now. We have to wait until those monsters come back, maybe Goten can come out of that world again then. But until that happens I can't do anything for him. I'm very sorry Trunks.'

'You're just too lazy to help Goten!' Trunks screamed in anger. 'He's my best friend and you don't even wanna help him! You're the worst mom ever!'

'Do _not_ talk to me like that Trunks!' Bulma argued, tears in her eyes. Trunks's words had really hurt. 'I understand you're upset about Goten, but I am still your mother! Go look at that village and see that we're not the only ones with problems! Those people need help too, and we can actually help them! I don't know how to help Goten right now Trunks, I just don't know!'

It was harsh, Bulma knew it. But she couldn't bring herself to lie to Trunks, even though he was only eight. In Trunks's mind it was probably impossible that his genius mother didn't know the answer to a problem. And he just kept on staring at her with his upset eyes.

'You know what?' Bulma offered. 'You can guard the Dragon Ball. And warn us if those monsters show up again, but _do not_ enter their world on your own! I don't want to lose you too! And that Dragon Ball _cannot_ fall into their hands okay?'

Trunks took the Dragon Ball without saying anything.

'I'm serious Trunks, do you promise?!' Bulma said strictly. 'We'll come and we'll help get Goten back as soon as they show up.'

After a few moments Trunks gave in.

'Okay mom, I promise.'

Bulma entered with Chi-Chi to get everything ready while the others were gathering the injured.

'Are you sure about Trunks Bulma?' Chi-Chi asked. 'Goten would probably go in anyway.'

'No I'm not.' Bulma answered as Yamcha walked in carrying an injured young boy.

'Hey Yamcha!' Bulma called out. 'Can you watch Trunks for me while I take care of things here? He's watching the Dragon Ball, make sure he won't go into that world if those red monsters come back. He promised he wouldn't but you know how boys are.'

'Okay Bulma, I'll leave these people to you.'

Yamcha went off to keep an eye on Trunks, while Namu, Ox King, and Master Roshi entered carrying more injured people. Most of the injured people had only light injuries which could be treated with a few bandages, but there were some heavily injured people, including a young girl, which required surgery. Bulma knew she couldn't perform surgery herself, but she had a surgery robot with her in the hospital. She quickly released it from its capsule and turned it on. The robot immediately started its treatment. Ami approached her and bowed.

'I do not know how to thank you. Thank you so much.'

'I'm happy to help.' Bulma replied flattered. It felt good to be helping these people out. It was a distraction from missing Goten and Erasa and all the other shit that had been going on, and it felt a lot more useful than gathering an incomplete set of Dragon Balls.

'If you had not shown up, I am sure my daughter would not have survived without your help. I do not think I can ever repay you.'

'It's really okay Ami!' Bulma tried to reassure him. 'If it makes you feel less guilty, I can deduct these costs from my taxes as charity.'

After about an hour they had treated all the injured people. Fortunately there were no casualties, but the village was still in ruins.

'Mom, can we go now and get Goten back?' Trunks begged as Bulma exited the hospital. 'We've lost a lot of time here already.'

'There's still one more thing I need to do.' Bulma said, and she approached Namu.

'Namu, when you first approached me you told me of pollution here. What were you talking about?'

'It's at our crops, but they were all destroyed by the winds.' Ami replied.

'Crops can be replanted.' Bulma said. 'But if the soil is contaminated that will contaminate any future crops you grow, can you take me there?'

Namu and Ami brought Bulma to the fields, after about five minutes of walking they found it. The soil had a strange sewer-greenish colour.

'Do you know what kind of contamination it is?'

'No, I'm afraid not.'

'Okay, I'll find out myself.' Bulma said, and she took several samples of the soil. As widely equipped as her airplane was, she didn't have any chemical analysing equipment with her. She'd have to analyse it back at Capsule Corp.

'Once all this other stuff with Majin Buu and so on is over, I'll figure out what this is.' Bulma promised. 'I'm sure we can find some way to clean it up.'

'Thank you very much.' Namu and Ami said simultaneously, and they both bowed. It was very friendly and graceful but also a bit awkward. They walked back to the village.

'I will stay here to help my people rebuild my village.' Namu said. 'I think I can be of more use here than travelling with you.'

Bulma agreed. Namu didn't really know anyone from their group after all. They all waved goodbye to the villagers, and as they prepared to board again Ami approached them.

'Umm, you are forgetting your hospital.'

'Oh, you can use it until you have rebuilt your village.' Bulma dismissed. 'All of your buildings were destroyed, with this you'll at least have shelter and some food supply for now. We don't have any use for it, I've got more of them.'

'Oh thank you so much.'

They all bowed again in gratitude.

'Hey, here's the thing.' Bulma said, addressing Namu. 'Gohan promised to help you out. And Gohan is like family to me, if I can help him fulfil a promise he made out of his desire to help innocent people I will always help him. Besides, I should help Gohan, he may be the one to save the entire world again today.'


	31. Master Korin's Hypothesis

Master Korin's words barely registered in Gohan's mind. The shock of realising his father was already gone again was dominating everything. Gohan didn't understand the circumstances. Had the battle been that tough? Had his father had been forced that far beyond his limits? Had his father sacrificed himself a third time to save everyone else, or had it been an accident with the Kaio-Ken going wrong?

Master Korin was about to bonk him on the head with his staff when Gohan heard a voice in his head that made his heart leap.

'Hey Gohan, good to see you're still alive.'

'Piccolo!'

'Huh?' Videl said confused. 'Where's that voice coming from?'

'With the help of North Kai I can communicate with you all Videl.' Piccolo replied. 'I just arrived on his new planet.'

'Uhhh…'

'I was allowed to keep my body after my death, just like Goku.' Piccolo explained to a confused Videl. 'North Kai's planet is part of the afterlife world.'

'Is father there too?' Gohan asked.

Another voice Gohan did not recognise replied.

'No, I reckon he's still in line for being judged. I'm North Kai by the way, you might also know me as King Kai. But I've been a bit out of the loop as to what happened to all of you, I was following the fight Goku and Vegeta had with Majin Buu and Bobbidy.'

'Same for me Gohan, could you fill us in?' Kaio-Shin's voice said.

'I failed Piccolo.' Gohan admitted. 'I was just so blinded by my emotions after your death, I was much stronger than Dabura but I just couldn't use that power properly. We had to retreat after Majin Buu got released.'

'Who are "we"?'

'Tenshinhan, Krillin, and me.'

'Oh of course.' Piccolo said. 'How did you escape?'

Gohan told them everything. How his father and Vegeta had appeared and taken over, covering their escape. How Gohan, Krillin, and Tenshinhan had met up with Bulma and the others and received a Senzu. And how Master Roshi had suggested Gohan should go to Master Korin for help.

'Okay, I understand.' North Kai said. 'But I'm missing one thing in the story. What happened to Dabura? Goku and Vegeta only fought with Bobbidy and Majin Buu.'

'What?' Gohan exclaimed surprised. 'I thought they fought all three of them!'

'No, Dabura wasn't there when they arrived. I missed what happened to him as I was busy calling in Goku and Vegeta for support.'

'Judging from your story he was pretty badly hurt after fighting you Gohan.' Videl said. 'Maybe he retreated somewhere to recover?'

'That's a possiblility.' Master Korin said. 'But let's focus on the most important threats first. North Kai, do you know if Majin Buu survived that blast? I can't sense its energy signal anymore.'

'It looks like it's gone.' Kaio-Shin replied. 'That blast was incredibly strong, I've never seen any explosion created by living beings as powerful as that one, you're lucky your planet is still intact after that. But it's difficult to know for certain, Majin Buu has demonic traits which are impossible for us to detect, and its ability to regenerate its own body is unfathomable, but for now it looks like Buu's indeed gone.'

'What about Bobbidy?' Master Korin asked.

'Bobbidy is a lot more fragile than Majin Buu, if he was still there when that blast hit there's no way he would have survived it.' Kaio-Shin replied.

'So things are looking good again. It looks like the only threat remaining is Dabura.' Piccolo said. 'Gohan, I remember trying to teach you how to control that incredible power of yours when you were just a little kid. But it was a power I did not fully understand myself either. You became much stronger under my training, but there was always that part of your power that you couldn't control or summon at will. If you manage to finally learn that with Master Korin's help, there's no doubt in my mind you can defeat Dabura.'

'But why would Dabura come back?' Videl asked. 'He knows Gohan's dangerous to him, what's his interest in coming back?'

'Good question, one I do not have an answer to.' Kaio-Shin replied. 'We still don't even know why he joined forces with Bobbidy in the first place. Maybe he'll return, maybe he won't. Gohan should prepare with Master Korin just in case, as Goku and Vegeta are both dead and there's nobody else in your world who stands a chance against him.'

'Wait, Vegeta's dead too?' Videl exclaimed.

'Yes, he was killed shortly before Goku by Bobbidy.' Kaio-Shin said. 'He launched an incredibly strong attack against Majin Buu right before which drained his energy. Bobbidy took advantage of that.'

Gohan was surprised how little Vegeta's death struck him, despite never having been on good terms with Vegeta. But still… Vegeta had also fought against Majin Buu for them, and helped him defeat Cell. And Vegeta had fought alongside them against Freeza. Maybe it was Vegeta's dangerous fighting at the Tournament today which had endangered Videl and Erasa, or maybe it was really true that first impressions matter most. Vegeta being responsible for Piccolo's first death also still stung deeply for Gohan. Regardless, Gohan felt little grief over Vegeta's death. He just thought he should feel more. Was he a bad person for feeling so little, or was Vegeta just a horrible person who deserved it?

'Master Korin, do you think you can help Gohan with his powers?' Piccolo asked.

'Difficult to say.' Master Korin replied. 'I think I've got a decent idea on how his power works, but helping him actually gaining a good control over it is another matter. Change is never easy. I don't know yet how long it'll take.'

'Alright then, good luck Gohan.' Piccolo said. 'Do your best. Hopefully Dabura is the only threat left.'

'Thanks Piccolo.' Gohan replied, and he silently vowed to do whatever it takes to bring Piccolo back after this was all over as North Kai broke the connection.

* * *

After a few moments of silence Videl spoke up again.

'Uhmm, Master Korin? You said you had an idea on how Gohan's power works…'

'It's just a hypothesis, but seeing how you managed to protect the Tower just now,' Master Korin said, 'your power suddenly spiked when the Tower almost collapsed, can you try to explain what happened?'

Gohan tried to think back. It was a bit of a blur, it all happened so fast. He had seen his energy shield failing to protect the Tower. He had seen the floor and the pillars cracking, the cracks were still clearly visible. And he had heard Master Korin scream the Tower was going to collapse and Videl shrieking. And then suddenly his power had come. What had happened? It wasn't anger, or was it? Was it anger at realising his father's fate? He didn't remember feeling angry at the time. Why had it come when the Tower was tearing?

'Hey, Earth to Gohan!' Videl said loudly. 'Master Korin asked you a question.'

'He's thinking about the answer Videl.' Master Korin said. 'What were you thinking at the time Gohan? What did you feel?'

'I-I-I, I don't know Master.' Gohan admitted. 'It happened so fast.'

'Let me tell you what I did _not_ detect in you at the time.' Master Korin said. 'Hesitation and doubt. When your power spiked you were focused on your goal of protecting us, and by extension the Tower.'

'I don't understand.' Videl said.

'When I was antagonising you I sensed doubt in Gohan.' Master Korin explained. 'Much more doubt than you had. You were pretty sure you should stand up for yourself and not let me walk all over you. You didn't have the physical powers to enforce it, but you were determined to try. Gohan on the other hand… he wasn't sure how to deal with the situation, what the right course of action was. Would it be inappropriate of him to stand up against me, and old Master, or would it be wrong to just stand by and do nothing against an apparent injustice?'

'So he didn't doubt about whether or not it was the right thing to do to protect us.' Videl said annoyed. 'Of course that's the right thing to do! What's so special about that?'

'Whenever I met Gohan before, every time he came by on his way to visit Dende and Piccolo…' Master Korin explained. 'I always sensed doubt in his mind. Doubt on his manners, on his impression, on whether or not he'll be home in time... little worries. It's Gohan's nature. You are quite the opposite Videl, you quickly decide yourself a goal and you do not stray away from that goal whatever happens. You are among the most determined people I've ever met. But when Gohan protected us… that was the first time I did not sense doubt in him since I met him.'

'So if I don't have doubts I get stronger?' Gohan asked. 'I thought it was anger that caused it. It happened against Cell and Dabura, then the power came when I got angry enough.'

'It's not anger…' Videl realised. 'It's determination. The anger overrides your doubt and makes you determined to a goal, whether that goal is to torture Cell or defeat Dabura. And that determination is what allows you to use your power. So you could access it here because you were determined to your goal of protecting us and the Tower.'

'How long have you two known each other?' Master Korin asked.

'About a month.' Videl replied.

'You've only known Gohan for a month and you already get it.' Master Korin said. 'You're really sharp if you don't let your hot head cloud your judgement Videl. That's indeed my hypothesis.'

'But why is it only my power that works like that?' Gohan asked confused. He still had no idea what separated him from anyone else.

'Well Gohan, I don't know if you ever realised this…' Master Korin replied. 'But everyone actually thinks in a different way. Everybody has their own patterns in thoughts and emotions. You doubt yourself a lot and are strict to yourself, you are scared to make errors in judgement. A portion of it is simply your nature, you're pacifistic and do not like to hurt, so it takes more extreme circumstances to convince yourself that you _have_ to fight. And I think another portion is what you've been through. You've been in terrible situations at incredibly young ages, far too young for them and far too often. You've seen the pain and the hurt that comes through violence and death, and you know from experience that taking a wrong decision can result in needless suffering.'

It was hard for Gohan to hear, it was confrontational to have Master Korin say outright he was scared to make errors in judgement and was pacifistic. But Master Korin's words seemed to make sense. Was his fear of causing suffering by wrong decisions and violence the very thing that prevented him from fighting properly? But how could he just change his ways of thinking?

'Tell me Gohan.' Master Korin said. 'If Dabura had not killed Piccolo, would it have been morally acceptable to kill Dabura?'

Gohan thought about it. He wasn't sure what Master Korin wanted to hear, or where he wanted to go with this. Before Gohan could answer anything Videl already answered.

'Of course it would be!' Videl said simply. 'He was working with that Bobbidy guy that wants to destroy the world. What's one death compared to the fate of the world?'

'Alright then, that's what Videl thinks.' Master Korin said. 'What do you think Gohan?'

'Well uhmm…' Gohan started. 'I remember Kaio-Shin saying that Bobbidy could also manipulate others, just like he had manipulated Videl not to intervene when father and Vegeta got attacked. So… if Bobbidy manipulated Dabura into joining his side, it wouldn't really be his fault right?'

'But they wanted to destroy the world!' Videl countered. 'Surely that's more important than that!'

'That's enough!' Master Korin declared. 'This isn't about who is right and who is wrong in this case. The point is that morality is rarely unambiguous, and Gohan struggles more with that than you do Videl. You could also rephrase the question as "Does Dabura deserve to die?" That's a different question, but with similar implications.'

Gohan didn't understand what Master Korin meant.

'Isn't it like, the same question Master?'

'No it isn't.' Master Korin said. 'Not to Videl. The first question's broader and included the subject of whether or not it is acceptable to kill to prevent further harm. The second question is more focused on judgement and retribution rather than protection.'

It was too abstract for Gohan, he didn't see the difference. Wasn't it in the end still the same question of whether or not Dabura should die, what Gohan should strive for if he'd end up fighting Dabura again like Piccolo said?

'What do you think Videl?' Master Korin asked. 'Does Dabura deserve to die, knowing that Bobbidy's manipulation possibly caused him to do his actions?'

'Geez, I don't know…' Videl said. 'I don't think he deserves it if he really got forced by Bobbidy. But he should still die if otherwise the world gets destroyed. None of the other innocent people in the world deserve to die any more than he does.'

'You mean like a sacrifice?'

'Yeah, I guess you could put it that way.'

'Let's go with a different example.' Master Korin said. 'Gohan, do you ever regret destroying Cell?'

Well, no. Not really.' Gohan answered truthfully. Ever since that day he had often regretted not killing Cell faster, but never the act of destroying Cell itself. He had always been glad that Cell was gone and no longer terrorising people anymore.

'Why not?'

'Well uhmm…' Gohan hesitated. Master Korin was asking difficult questions and Gohan had no idea where Master Korin wanted to go with this. 'Do you think I'm a bad person for not regretting it?'

'It's not about what I think, it's about what _you_ think.' Master Korin deflected. 'But to answer your question, I don't think you're a bad person, and I don't think that your lack of regrets over killing Cell changes that. You haven't answered my question though.'

'Oh yeah…' Gohan realised. 'Well uhmm… because Cell was an evil monster. Nobody is sad it's gone, it had no family or anything that'd miss it. And if I hadn't killed it Cell'd have hurt many more innocent people, just like it had done before and during the Cell Games. All it wanted to do and all it ever did was causing pain and suffering among innocent people.'

'Those are all some very good reasons Gohan.' Master Korin said. 'I'm not going to ask Videl that one, I already know she feels the same way about that. But morality and ethics are rarely as unambiguous as the case of whether or not you should have destroyed Cell.'

'Why are we talking about this?' Videl asked. 'Shouldn't we be helping Gohan learn to become more determined?'

'Because you must first understand your weakness before overcoming it.' Master Korin replied. 'You don't fully understand the struggle Gohan has with this yet either, and I think we could use your help too for this, so you'd better pay attention.'

Master Korin turned back to Gohan, who had no idea how Videl could help out too. 'If Dabura comes back you may be the one that has to fight him. You just said you're not sure yet if it was morally acceptable to kill him because Bobbidy may have manipulated him. What will you do in that situation?'

'I don't know.' Gohan admitted.

'And that's the doubt that's holding you back in actual battle.' Master Korin said sharply. 'Either consciously or subconsciously. Until the situation gets so out of hand that your emotions take over your rationale and your doubts.'

'I know.' Gohan said harshly. 'And because of that I let Piccolo die! Because I couldn't convince myself to really do my best even though Piccolo said I should!'

Master Korin bonked him on the head again with his staff.

'It's remarkable how quick you are to cast judgement about yourself, seeing how hesitant you are with casting it to anyone else.'

'What do you mean?'

'Really Gohan?' Videl said in disbelief. 'Didn't you understand any of what Erasa told you?'

Another voice was then audible in the room.

'Hey guys, how's it going here?'


	32. The Guardian of Earth

Krillin and Lazuli flew into the room, the latter carrying Marron.

'Hey Krillin.' Korin replied.

'What's going on?' Videl asked. 'Where's Erasa and the rest?'

'I think it's best if we go to the lookout now and discuss it there.' Lazuli said definitively.

'Yeah, we also want Dende's input.' Krillin added.

Videl had no clue who Dende was, and the way Krillin and Lazuli were talking was foreboding.

'Who's Dende?'

'You'll see.' Korin said. 'Let's go to the lookout, we can continue up there too.'

'What's the lookout?' Videl asked confused, while Korin climbed outside onto the roof. Lazuli picked up Marron again and flew after him, as did Krillin, Gohan, and Videl. Videl asked again as nobody had replied to her question.

'Hey Gohan?' Videl asked. 'Where are we going?'

'The lookout.' Gohan replied. 'It's right above Korin Tower.'

Videl looked into the sky above Korin's roof. All she saw was the sky. There weren't even any clouds, they were too high up for clouds.

'I don't see anything there.'

'We're still too low to see it.' Gohan replied. 'It's pretty high up.'

'But there's no foundation here or anything?' Videl said confused, looking around. 'How does it not fall down?'

There was an ornament in the centre of the roof, and a red pole of about 120 cm long was placed inside it. Korin held his staff with his tail and held the pole with both his front paws.

'Nyoi-Bo, extend!' Korin commanded clearly. The top of the pole ascended as it lengthened, taking Korin with it into the sky. Videl looked in awe at it, surprised that this weirdness was still surprising her.

'Just when you think you've seen everything with a talking mind-reading cat living on top of a Tower…' Videl said quietly, causing Krillin to giggle.

'Let's go.' Krillin said, and the group flew after Korin into the sky.

'Hey Videl…' Krillin started. 'That red pole Master Korin is using… it's called the Nyoi-Bo. Goku used it quite a lot when he was still a kid.'

'So what is it exactly?' Videl asked.

'It's a magical staff which can change its length under control of the wielder. Pretty much indestructible.'

'It was made as a means to get to the lookout from the Tower.' Korin said, still soaring higher and higher while holding the Nyoi-Bo with his paws and his wooden staff with his tail. 'Of course you folks later on decided to just ruin all that symbolism and magic by learning how to fly…'

'So Gohan's dad used it a lot?' Videl asked Krillin, unsure of what to think of Korin's opinion on flying. 'What did he use it for?'

'As a means to climb up high places, as a weapon…' Krillin replied. 'I remember him using it once to carry Bulma across this pirate trap…'

'What?!' Videl exclaimed.

'It's a long story.' Krillin said.

They ascended rapidly and after a couple of minutes they reached a hemispherical structure. This was probably the lookout.

'So Videl. Welcome to _the_ lookout of Earth.' Krillin said.

The Nyoi-Bo connected with the lookout on the bottom side, where an opening was located which precisely fit the staff. Korin jumped off the staff and grabbed on a ladder which was curved along the outside of the lookout, using it to nimbly climb up. Videl was impressed at Korin's skill at climbing the ladder while also carrying his wooden staff in his tail.

'Have you ever…' Videl asked, 'fallen down from here?'

'Only twice, the first time long ago.' Korin replied. 'You see, there was this cleaning accident on the lookout, and soap was spilled all over the ladder. I didn't know and slipped.'

'What about the second time?'

'That one's a story for another time. It's a bit of an opposite of the first one.'

Videl had no idea what that could be. Now that she thought about it, maybe it wasn't any more difficult than climbing a ladder without a staff if you didn't have a tail. Before she could think about it some more they'd already reached the top side. The top side was flat, as opposed to the spherical shape of the bottom side, and was covered in white square tiles. There was a building with domed roofs which were unlike anything Videl had seen, the walls were flat for one, and a lot was held up by pillars. There were also beautiful gardens with trees Videl had never seen before, all neatly arranged as if it was owned by someone very important. If Korin's house had been mythical, this place was even more seriously mythical. It had little of the home-like qualities of Korin's house, instead it replaced those with a vibe of sanctity.

A green person approached them as they landed on the lookout. He had a green skin and was dressed in white and purple robes. He was quite short, Videl estimated him around 150 cm tall. On his chest there was a symbol that spelled 'Kami', or God, and he was wearing a wooden staff similar to the one Korin had. Videl also noticed that he had four fingers on each hand, and had two antenna-like things on his forehead. The antenna were not unlike those little horns slugs had, Videl didn't know what they were called on slugs. The little green person was accompanied by a person with a skin darker than she had ever seen. The dark-skinned person also didn't look human, he had creepy round eyes and no nose.

'Hello there, I don't believe we've met before,' the green person said, and held out his four-fingered hand to Videl. 'My name is Dende.' Videl shook his hand. His skin felt scaly and reptilian.

'Uhmm, hello…' Videl stuttered. 'My name is Videl… I know Gohan from school.'

'Welcome to this sanctuary Videl.' Dende said. 'Any friend of Gohan is also a friend of me. As I said, my name is Dende, and I'm the guardian, or God, of planet Earth.' Dende turned to the dark-skinned person. 'And this is my assistant Mr. Popo.'

'So that symbol on your robes isn't just for show?' Videl asked before remembering her manners. She felt like she was way out of her league here. This guy was apparently some kind of God who protected the entire world and all she had justifying her presence was "knowing Gohan from school", which didn't feel like much of a justification in Videl's mind.

'No, it isn't.' Dende said. 'I was given this title after the previous God merged with Piccolo. It is my way to repay Gohan, Krillin, and Goku for helping me and my people out a long time ago.'

Videl wasn't really sure what to make of it. If Dende was a literal God, couldn't he save the world? How could you just become a God if the previous one retired? And what did this merging with Piccolo even mean? Krillin meanwhile approached Mr. Popo.

'Mr. Popo, could you look after Marron for us? It's getting late for her, could you get her to sleep?'

Mr. Popo obliged and took Marron away. In the meantime, Videl had more questions for Dende.

'If you're a God who's guarding the world, can't you defeat those guys that want to destroy us, like that Dabura guy?' Videl asked.

'Unfortunately, I am not a fighter.' Dende said. 'I am of the Dragon Clan class of Namekians, not of the Warrior Clan.'

'Uhmm…'

'Judging from your expression you have no idea what I meant.' Dende said. 'I am actually not from this planet. I am from a planet called Namek. And our species, the Namekians, come in two varieties. The Dragon Clan has special powers like healing and creating Dragon Balls. The Warrior Clan on the other hand have significant fighting strengths and abilities. Piccolo is from the Warrior Clan, and I am from the Dragon Clan.'

'Can we save the biology lessons for later?' Korin interjected. 'Krillin, I think you guys had something to tell us.'

Before Krillin could answer Lazuli already started talking.

'Thank you. It happened when we were collecting the third Dragon Ball.' Lazuli said. 'We were attacked by a large group of strange red monsters that came through weird gateways in the sky. We managed to defeat them all, but when we got back to the airplane we discovered that the two we'd already collected were gone!'

'Gone?!' Gohan exclaimed. 'What do you mean, gone?!'

'We think the attack was just a diversion to steal the Dragon Balls.' Lazuli said.

'Yeah, Bulma couldn't even detect them any more with the Dragon Radar!' Krillin added.

'But…' Videl asked nervously. 'Didn't you say we need all seven balls to make a wish?'

'That's right, so wishes are out until we get those two balls back. And there's more bad news.' Lazuli said. 'We discovered that Goten and Erasa were still in the airplane when it happened. We think that they witnessed the theft and chased after the monsters through those gateways, but then the gateways disappeared.'

'So…' Videl stuttered, not really wanting to believe what she heard. 'Where are they now?'

'I'm so sorry.' Krillin said nervously and obviously pained. 'They must be still in there, wherever or whatever that world is that those red monsters came from.'

It took Videl at least ten seconds to process that.

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ANOTHER WORLD?!' Videl screamed, grabbing Krillin by his ruffled orange gi. It was impossible, it was insanity, there was no way such a thing should even be possible. People couldn't just get trapped in another world…

'We don't know Videl!' Lazuli said harshly.

'But we gotta save them!' Videl cried out. 'I can't just abandon her like that! She's my best friend! There's gotta be _something_ we can do to help them!'

Videl turned to Gohan, whose face was filled with frustration.

'Gohan come on!' Videl cried. She grabbed the remainders of his Saiyaman suit and shook him. 'Erasa's also your friend, and Goten's your brother! We've gotta do something! Please Gohan!'

'What can I do Videl?!' Gohan cried out in frustration. 'I can't do anything! I don't even have a clue how to get to that world, whatever it is! I'm just a worthless hero!'

Korin bonked Gohan hard on the head, so hard that he accidentally broke his staff in half.

'Calm down Gohan!' Korin commanded. 'Or this old Master has lost his cane for nothing!'

It looked like Gohan slowly got himself back under control and calmed down. Videl meanwhile was more determined than ever to save Erasa but at the same time she had never felt lacking a direction more. Feeling so fired up and determined but having no direction to direct that energy towards was maddening.

'I'm sorry Master. But I feel so useless.' Gohan said, summarising in far less words what Videl was also feeling.

'You're not the only one Gohan.' Krillin said. 'We came here because we didn't know what to do either and we hoped Dende might have seen something.'

'What are the others doing?' Dende asked.

'They're gathering the other Dragon Balls.' Lazuli replied. 'The idea is that if those monsters are after the Dragon Balls they might come back, which might give us an opportunity to get Goten and Erasa back.'

'Interesting idea.' Korin said. 'But if those monsters are after the Dragon Balls, wouldn't it have made more sense to wait until more were gathered and then steal them all?'

'That's a question we also asked ourselves.' Krillin said. 'But we don't know.'

'We don't know much about this enemy indeed.' Korin said. 'What _do_ we know?'

'Well uhmm…' Krillin started. 'We know they were all red, with glowing orange eyes. They weren't very strong, at least not compared to us, and they came through some kind of gateways or portals from a different world.'

'They could also breathe fire.' Lazuli added. 'And that fire somehow absorbed ki attacks.'

'What kind of ki did you sense from them?' Dende asked. 'How did their ki feel?'

Krillin and Lazuli thought back without replying for a few moments.

'Now that I think about it, I don't think I sensed any ki from them whatsoever.' Krillin concluded. 'Do you think they could be robot monsters or something?'

'No, I don't think so.' Dende said. 'There's got to be some kind of link to the other threats of today, Dabura, Bobbidy, and Majin Buu. Two independent strange threats appearing on the same day is too much of a coincidence, and none of them seem to be the type to use robot monsters.'

'Dabura.' Gohan said slowly. 'It's got to be Dabura.'

'But, wasn't Dabura strong enough to kill Piccolo?' Krillin asked confused. 'We were fighting like thirty of those monsters and we could beat them, they weren't even close to the kind of power that'd give Piccolo trouble.'

'No, I mean, when I fought Dabura…' Gohan said pained. 'He could also breathe fire which absorbed ki attacks. And he created these circular gateways in the sky, he attacked Piccolo from behind with them. And I didn't feel any ki from Dabura either.'

'So, you're saying that these red monsters are Dabura's lackeys or something?' Lazuli asked.

'Yes, I think so.' Gohan said determined. 'There are too many similarities otherwise. But why go after the Dragon Balls? And how did they even find them, or the others?'

'Wait a minute…' Videl interjected. 'Dabura was the guy you fought right? The guy who wasn't there anymore when your dad and Vegeta went to fight?'

'That's right.' Korin said.

'Wait, he wasn't there?' Krillin asked surprised. 'I mean, I didn't see him when we met up with Goku and Vegeta, but we were in a bit of a rush to get Gohan out of there, so I didn't exactly stop to look around either, I just figured I glanced over him or something.'

'North Kai said he wasn't.' Korin said. 'I reckon Gohan's onto something.'

'But even if we know it was Dabura that still doesn't bring us any closer to figuring out how to help Erasa and Gohan's brother!' Videl argued.

'Here's an idea. Dende…' Krillin offered. 'We only lost two Dragon Balls. Would it be possible for you to make two new ones to replace them so we can still form a complete set? Then we could wish Goten and Erasa back to this world.'

Videl was surprised hearing that. This Dende guy could actually create Dragon Balls? Could he create hundreds of them and get infinitely many wishes? How could you even create magic? How much more crazy could this day get? And why was she still not getting used to crazy things happening?

'I'm afraid it doesn't work like that.' Dende replied sadly. 'The Dragon Balls are magically linked together as a set. You can't just replace one with another. The only way would be to create an entirely new set of seven, including a completely new Dragon.'

'Well, that's fine too right?' Videl said, trying to actually add something meaningful to the discussion for once. 'I mean, unless the old Dragon becomes jealous or something.'

Dende seemed to be deep in thought and took a few moments to reply.

'That is a possibility. But my life is already linked to the old set of Dragon Balls. I can only be linked to one set at a time. The moment I would start creating a new set the old Dragon Balls would cease to function and turn into stone. And it would take me months to create a new set.'

'So it's a gamble.' Korin said. 'We could go down that road, but then we're sure not to have Dragon Balls for several months, or we keep the old set and hope we can get those last two Balls back some other way. I'm not sure what's wise in this case.'

'Couldn't you teach me how to do it?' Videl asked Dende on a whim. 'I mean, if I could make a set with your help somehow we could go for both sets instead of gambling on one.'

'You sure are determined to learn new tricks Videl.' Korin remarked. Videl glanced at Korin who was deviously smiling at her.

'I'm afraid that's not possible.' Dende said. 'The creation of Dragon Balls is an ability that can only be done by the Dragon Clan of the Namekians. Other species like yours simply can't do it.'

That was a bummer. Videl didn't know what to do. Neither option seemed particularly attractive. With a new set they could probably wish back Erasa and Goten, but the thought of Erasa being trapped in some other unknown world for months with only a six-year old kid for company was horrifying. And the alternative was hoping that those monsters would attack again and opening up that other world, which seemed like a plan hinged on many more uncertainties than Videl was comfortable with. How likely was it that the monsters would attack again?

'How did those monsters find you the first time?' Videl asked Krillin and Lazuli.

'We don't know.' Lazuli answered. 'I think they might have followed us somehow. It doesn't look like they have the means to find the Dragon Balls themselves.'

'Why do you think that they don't?' Gohan asked.

'Because they attacked us right when we were collecting the third ball.' Lazuli explained. 'If they had a means to locate them, they would have collected that third ball as well before we even got there.'

'But if you were followed when collecting the Dragon Balls, does that mean that they could still be followed right now?' Gohan asked concerned.

'Let me take a look.' Dende said, and he walked to the edge of the lookout, looking down. 'Where are they?'

Videl joined Dende and tried to look, but she didn't see anything but distant land and seas, they were far too high up to recognise anything smaller than a mountain. But Dende looked as if he could see what was going on.

'Ah, there they are.'

Videl didn't see anything, she wondered how Dende could possibly something so far away. Bulma's airplane must be thousands of kilometres away. It must be Dende's Godly divine powers or something else incomprehensible. Videl realised she might as well just wing it, she couldn't keep up trying to understand everything anymore.

'What can you see?' Videl asked.

'They stopped by at a village in the desert that was destroyed by Goku's explosion.' Dende said. 'From the looks of it they're providing some aid.'

'Are they being followed?' Gohan asked.

Dende looked closer.

'Difficult to say when they're stopped.' Dende replied. 'Especially when those creatures don't have ki. Krillin, how big were those monsters?'

'Varying sizes, but much smaller than humans. I don't think any of them were larger than a metre.'

'I'd estimate most of them were in between half a metre and a metre.' Lazuli added.

'I see something there in the sand, but it's maybe about ten centimetres big.' Dende said. 'It's red, but I can't detect any ki from it.'

 _He can actually see something that small from this far away?_

'That's got to be it!' Krillin called out. 'Let's go and warn them.'

'No! If we warn them we let Dabura know that we're onto him.' Dende replied. 'If he knows he might not attack and we'll never get those Dragon Balls back. I think it's the best option to keep silent for now and draw him out.'

'I don't like it.' Gohan said. 'My mother and grandfather are there too.'

'Me neither, it's why we got Marron out of there.' Krillin said. 'But I think Dende's right, this is the best chance we've got to get Goten and Erasa back.'

'Dabura was a MaKaio-Shin correct?' Dende suddenly said.

'I recall Kaio-Shin saying something like that yes.' Gohan replied.

'The MaKaio-Shin are the creators of life and worlds in the Demon Realm, similar to how the Kaio-Shin are the creators of life and worlds in this realm.' Dende said. 'He or Bobbidy must have had some way for Dabura to travel here from the Demon Realm.'

'So you're saying that those gateways could be pathways into the Demon Realm?' Krillin asked.

'I can't be sure of it, but I'd say it's likely.' Dende replied.

'So... then… what you're saying is that Erasa and Goten are now… inside the Demon Realm?' Videl asked. She still didn't even have the faintest idea what the Demon Realm was, but it didn't sound too friendly.

'That's exactly what I'm saying.'


	33. Lessons on the Lookout

'What is the Demon Realm?' Gohan asked. 'I recall Kaio-Shin saying something about it, but not exactly what.'

'I don't know much about it.' Dende answered. 'All I know is that it is a realm opposite to ours. Another dimension if you will. It is where everything demonic lives. The MaKaio-Shin like Dabura create life and planets there. Life from that side should stay on that side, and life from our side should stay on our side.'

'So what's it like in there?'

'I do not know. As far as I know not even the Kaio-Shin has ever been there. It's a world in which life forms from our world should never enter.'

'But Erasa's in there!' Videl cried out. 'There's gotta be something we can do to bring her back! Anything!'

'The Kaio-Shin might be able to go there.' Dende said. 'If Dabura could open those gateways between the dimensions maybe the Kaio-Shin could do something similar.'

'But he died already didn't he?!' Videl replied desperately.

'And we could bring him back…' Gohan added. 'If we had Dragon Balls.'

'So we're stuck.' Krillin said sadly. 'We can't enter the Demon Realm without the Kaio-Shin, we can't get the Kaio-Shin's help without the Dragon Balls, and we can't get the Dragon Balls without retrieving the last two from the Demon Realm.'

'So we're pushed back to your original plan.' Master Korin said. 'Hope that they come to us.'

'Why is it that our life forms should stay separated from the demonic ones?' Lazuli asked.

'I don't know.' Dende replied. 'But it's an ancient law of nature, it's always been like this.'

Gohan felt horrible about the situation. He had no idea if Goten and Erasa were even alive in the Demon Realm, it sounded very dangerous. Could you even live at all in there? And if that Dabura guy showed up… Goten wasn't strong enough to defeat him.

'What if those monsters don't come back?' Videl asked desperately, breaking Gohan from his thoughts.

'I think we should give it a little while.' Dende said. 'If they don't come back within a few days I'll start making new Dragon Balls with which we can bring them back.'

Gohan didn't like that backup plan. Dende had said it'd take months to make a new set of Dragon Balls. By then Goten and Erasa would have already starved to death, if they weren't killed by something else first. The Dragon Balls could revive them again, but wouldn't they be revived in the Demon Realm again? And you could only be brought back once, it'd be much better not to need to do that at all. Gohan desperately wanted to have a Plan C which was much better, but he couldn't think of any, and it didn't look like the others had a better plan either.

'Let's just focus on helping out Gohan in the meantime.' Master Korin said. 'Videl, Gohan, let's go over here and find some more privacy.'

Master Korin walked over to the side and sat down next to some beautifully cut grass, with Videl and Gohan following him. Gohan's mind was still clouded with the fates of Goten and Erasa, but he tried to focus on what Master Korin was talking about.

'I remember we were talking about Gohan's doubts and lack of determination.'

Gohan remembered. Master Korin had said having doubts was in Gohan's nature. Gohan didn't know what Master Korin could do to change that, but Master Korin seemed to be willing to try.

'So Gohan, have you thought about what to do when Dabura comes back?'

'Don't you already know if he thought about it?' Videl asked sceptically.

'It's still polite to ask.' Master Korin replied. 'Besides, you need to follow this as well and you can't read his mind.'

Gohan wondered briefly why Master Korin insisted on keeping Videl with them while shunning Dende, Krillin, and the others, but a quick glance from Master Korin quickly reminded him of his question.

'Well uhmm, I haven't really given it much thought.' Gohan admitted apologetically. 'Stuff's been happening… like Krillin and Lazuli showing up… and going to Dende… which kind of distracted me.'

'So give it some thought now.' Master Korin said. 'Out loud please, so Videl can also follow it.'

'Why do you insist on me joining in?' Videl asked.

'You don't want to?'

'Oh no I didn't mean it like that!' Videl quickly said. 'I just… I don't really know how I could help out.'

'Let's just call it a hunch for now.' Master Korin simply said, and he turned back to Gohan. 'What do you think, what's your plan for when Dabura comes back?'

Gohan had a feeling Videl was going to disagree with his answer. But still, he might as well bring it up.

'Well… I… I don't think we should kill him.'

Videl didn't reply but stared at Gohan dumbfounded.

'Why not?' Master Korin asked calmly. 'Try to explain it to Videl.'

'Well uhmm… if Dabura is the only one who can open the way between our world and the Demon Realm… then uhmm… we could never get Goten and Erasa and the Dragon Balls back if you know… he died.'

Videl immediately had her answer ready as soon as Gohan stopped talking.

'You really think he's just gonna help out with that?' Videl asked sceptically. 'He's a bad guy!'

'Well uhmm… I don't know. Maybe he will.' Gohan said. 'But if he's dead we'd have to wait for Dende to make new Dragon Balls before we can get Goten and Erasa back. And I… I don't think they can… you know… survive for that long in there.'

'So what's your plan Gohan?' Master Korin asked.

'Well uhmm…' Gohan said hesitantly. 'Maybe just ask him when he shows up?'

'What if he says no?' Korin pressed on.

'Uhmm…' Gohan started. 'Maybe he won't. If he was manipulated by Bobbidy, he should become more reasonable now that Bobbidy's gone, right?'

Videl struck back fiercely and quickly.

'Are you for real Gohan?! The guy caused your own brother and one of your best friends to be stuck in some weird Demon World thing, and he killed Piccolo and he almost killed you and you just want to politely ask him for help?! Don't you feel angry at all at him for doing all that?! I mean, your mom was also there when those monsters attacked, and your grandpa.'

Videl was almost literally in his face now with her fierceness, crowding out Gohan and making him very uncomfortable.

'Well uhmm… if you say so…' Gohan yielded.

Master Korin quickly bonked Gohan on the head with the half of his staff he still had left.

'Come on Gohan. Stand your ground and actually engage in that argument, I know you can do much better than that.'

'What?!' Videl exclaimed to Master Korin. 'You actually think Gohan's right?! After everything that Dabura monster did?!'

'It's not about what I think.' Master Korin said strictly. 'Don't you remember what we were talking about before Videl? It is about determination. Gohan's less determined than ever that he should fight Dabura. _You_ are determined, but he's not.'

'So what's with encouraging Gohan to counter me?' Videl struck back.

Master Korin didn't reply directly but waited for Gohan to step up. Gohan meanwhile wondered what Videl's idea was. If she had such a big mouth on his idea, what would she come up with?

'So what do you think we should do Videl?' Gohan asked.

'I don't know!' Videl exclaimed. 'But I do know I don't want that Dabura monster to just get away with it after what he did!'

Master Korin was right. Gohan had good arguments too, and he should engage this argument. Videl didn't even have a plan.

'Well uhmm… didn't you say that you didn't know if he deserved to die?'

'Well that was before I heard about what he did to Erasa! And to Goten! He's… he's your own brother! It's like you don't even care! And Erasa has always stood up for you!'

'So I should just abandon them in that world to get back at that monster?!' Gohan countered angrily. He was uncertain about a lot of things, but Gohan was sure that he cared for both Goten and Erasa. The suggestion that he didn't was insulting.

'I'm not saying that! All I'm saying is that such a monster is never going to help you out!'

'Well I think we should at least try.' Gohan said. 'I owe that effort to Goten and Erasa, I don't want to abandon them until we have new Dragon Balls.'

'I don't think you should negotiate with bad guys.' Videl countered. 'He can't be trusted! If you're stronger than him you should just force him to open up that world and get Goten and Erasa back.'

The idea of forcing his opponent to do things frightened Gohan.

'Cell still almost blew up the entire world even while I was stronger than it. What if Dabura gets desperate and does something like that?!'

'Why would he do that?'

'I don't know!' Gohan replied. 'But it happened back then and I don't want that to happen again! I mean, we don't know anything about Dabura's intentions. How can you be so sure he wouldn't?'

Videl didn't immediately reply, but she bit her lower lip.

'Just speak up Videl.' Master Korin said. 'Let Gohan hear it too.'

'What's the point?' Videl asked suddenly. 'I don't know anymore! How are we supposed to give Gohan determination if we don't even know what to do? It feels like all that's happening is that I'm losing my own determination. I mean… I've never even experienced anything that could destroy the world. I-I just can't really believe that's possible. It's just so insane.'

Gohan hadn't thought about it like that. Before today Videl hadn't ever experienced truly extraordinary powers like that. It made Gohan all the more confused as to why Master Korin insisted that she'd be joining them.

'Haven't you ever experienced similar situations?' Master Korin asked.

'No, I've never seen monsters capable of destroying the world before!'

'I mean not in the same scale.' Master Korin said patiently. 'I mean, foes that were weaker than you but were threatening in other ways. Hostage situations or something? Don't the police forces you work with sometimes negotiate with bad guys in such situations?

'Well yeah. But that doesn't always work either.' Videl said, remembering the most recent hostage situation at Satan Hotel.

'But it works sometimes.' Master Korin concluded sharply. 'What is there really to lose by asking Dabura first?'

'I just, you know, don't like negotiating with a monster like that.' Videl admitted. 'It feels like… I'd be approving his actions you know? And… what if Dabura doesn't know yet that Goten and Erasa are in there? We could endanger them by telling him.'

Gohan hadn't considered that possibility before, and it was actually a scary one.

'What do you think Master?' Gohan asked, now less sure than before with Videl's new argument. 'What do you think is right?'

'I don't know.' Master Korin replied simply. 'I can read minds, I can't read the future.'

'But I don't know either!' Gohan replied desperately. 'What if Videl's right?'

'Then you still tried your best.'

'That's it?!' Gohan exclaimed angrily. 'Goten's my brother! If I can't save him, or even worse, endanger him with my actions, I failed him! That's something I don't want to do! Saying "I tried" won't fix that!'

'Now _there's_ some determination.' Master Korin proclaimed.

'What do you mean?! I still don't have a clue what to do!'

'Yes you do.' Master Korin said. 'You want to save your brother and your friend. There's no doubt in your mind about that goal. And you want to protect this world. There's no doubt about that goal either.'

Gohan didn't understand. Of course he didn't have doubts about those things, but he had no clue what path the right path was to protect the world or save Goten and Erasa.

'You're still missing the point.' Master Korin said, reading Gohan's mind. 'I mean, you've got a point, but Videl already gets it.'

'Huh?'

Gohan looked confused at Videl. Was she right? Should he try to force Dabura to release Goten and Erasa when he came back instead of a diplomatic approach? Did Dabura deserve retribution for his actions?

'You really don't get it do you?' Videl said.

'If it's so obvious can't you just tell me?' Gohan said annoyed.

'You're just too scared of things going wrong!' Videl said fiercely. 'You don't know what'll happen, none of us do! So you must choose a path that feels right for you. Think about it, but don't overthink it because you don't know how it'll turn out anyway! If you just keep on doubting your path you can't do anything!'

'But people could die if I choose the wrong approach!' Gohan argued.

'Don't you remember what Erasa told you?!' Videl replied fiercely. 'You just fucked up against Cell and then…'

Master Korin suddenly bonked Videl on her head with the half of his staff.

'Mind that language.' Master Korin commanded. 'You're in God's house here.'

Videl looked a bit dazzled and slowly looked around, before bowing to Master Korin.

'I'm sorry Master Korin.' Videl said politely. 'I got carried away there.'

'I'll leave it with a warning for now.' Master Korin said. 'But use such language again and I'll toss this thing down for real this time.'

Master Korin held up Videl's phone again with his tail. When had Master Korin stole that the second time? Gohan hadn't even seen it happen this time.

'When did you steal that?!' Videl exclaimed.

'Not the topic at hand, although I think it's really cool I managed to get it without Gohan noticing this time.' Master Korin sniggered. 'Now continue making your point to Gohan. Without the foul language if you don't mind.'

'Uhmm… okay then.' Videl hesitated. 'You made a mistake against Cell, but in the end you still destroyed that monster. It all turned out okay.'

'But my father still died because of me!'

'You were just ten… why must you be so harsh on yourself for that?!' Videl argued. 'I mean, I wasn't there but you said you were so angry you wanted to torture Cell. You made that more important than the goal of protecting the world. And I don't see that now with you, like, at all. You're like the opposite now, as if you don't even care about what Dabura deserves but only care about saving Goten and Erasa. I can't even imagine you becoming so angry that you'd… you know… I can't imagine what that Cell monster must have done to push you that far.'

'Because my father died!' Gohan argued. 'Because of me! That's a big deal!'

'Videl has a good point Gohan.' Master Korin interfered. 'Try to listen to what she's saying, instead of just repeating what you already said. Besides, do you think you're the only one who made a decision on the battlefield that turned out wrong in hindsight? I can still remember your father giving Cell that Senzu that very same day for instance.'

'He did WHAT?!' Videl exclaimed.

Gohan was glad Master Korin quickly started to explain, he really didn't want to do that.

'After Goku had fought Cell he surrendered and handed the fight over to Gohan. But before Gohan started Goku tossed Cell a Senzu, reasoning that the fight between Gohan and Cell wouldn't be fair if Cell was still weakened from its fight with Goku.'

'But that's insane!' Videl exclaimed completely in shock. 'Cell was a monster that killed and tortured people! Who cares about a fair fight?!'

'Apparently Goku did.' Master Korin said simply. 'He figured Gohan would be able to beat Cell regardless.'

'And I could have if I just…' Gohan started when Master Korin bonked on his head again.

'And Goku might have been able to beat Cell on his own if he had just taken that Senzu himself. He would have been refreshed and could have fought Cell who was still weakened.' Korin retaliated. 'Your father chose to put the entire world on the shoulders of a ten-year-old child for the honour of battle.'

Gohan had never thought much about that part of the Cell Games. He had always reasoned that if he'd just beaten Cell quickly like his father had told him to, it'd all have turned out okay. His father wouldn't have taken the Senzu healing as an advantage during his own battle, that wasn't who Goku was.

'I don't like how you talk about my father Master.' Gohan said. 'He sacrificed his life to save us all back then.'

'But that doesn't change the fact that he messed up first.' Videl countered. 'The only difference is that he was an adult and everyone should realise that healing a world-threatening enemy is a dumb decision. I mean, I wasn't there but I think you goofed on something that was much harder to predict, and you were just a kid.'

Gohan already realised it, but he was drastically searching for excuses for his father's action. But he didn't have any beyond the 'honour of battle', and Gohan realised that that was hardly sufficient reason to risk the world. It was just painful to admit it. His father had still sacrificed his life twice to save Gohan.

'I know.' Gohan sighed. 'I know you're right. But it doesn't feel that way. It feels like… I don't know... like… I'm betraying my father if I agree or something.'

'I get that Gohan.' Videl said. 'Remember when your mom told me about my dad? I didn't want to hear anything bad about my dad either. I didn't want to believe he could have been wrong, that he could have lied to everyone, including me, for all those years.'

Gohan suddenly heard a voice in his head. It was North Kai again.

'Hey there. I've got some bad news for all you folks.'

'What is it North Kai?' Dende replied in his head.

'I'm seeing some activity near where Goku blew himself up. It looks like Majin Buu survived.'


	34. The Demon Realm

Goten looked around.

'Uhm, where did the airplane go?'

Erasa looked around too. There was no sign of the desert they had landed in, nor was there any sign of the airplane, or of any of the others. The surroundings looked nothing like any place on Earth Erasa had ever seen. The ground was black as if covered in ash and the sky was red. There didn't appear to be a sun, and there were no stars either. Instead the surroundings were illuminated by several fires that were burning everywhere, seemingly burning without fuel as if they were obstacles in a video game.

'I-I don't know.' Erasa said hesitantly. 'Do you know where we are?'

'I don't know.' Goten replied. 'I've never seen this place before, but it's really hot here. I don't like it.'

Goten was right. It was really hot here. Erasa was already starting to sweat. She couldn't think straight, fear started to overcome her. What was this place? She had no clue, which made it all the more terrifying.

'Miss Erasa,' Goten started. 'I'm hungry.'

'Yeah, it has been a while since lunch hasn't it?'

'Lunch? I haven't had any!'

Erasa remembered. Goten had been missing at the time, he hadn't eaten with the rest of them. Erasa then also remembered she had brought her own lunch that morning, but hadn't consumed it because Videl had paid for her food at the Tournament. Erasa hadn't counted on Videl being able to eat with her at all. She took her bag out of her pocket and uncapsuled it.

'I'll share some of my food with ya.' Erasa said while taking out her lunch.

She sat down and immediately recoiled into the air. The ground was blazing hot and she burned her butt. Goten broke out in laughter.

Erasa regained herself while resisting the urge to swear in the presence of a child.

'That's not funny Goten! I almost burned my butt!'

Goten immediately stopped laughing, but then started sniggering again.

'What?!'

'You said butt!'

'Yeah? Well, I think you shouldn't laugh at people who provide your food.' Erasa remarked. 'Maybe I shouldn't share mine with you.'

'No no no no no no no please!' Goten said in a panic and he bowed. 'I'm sorry Miss Erasa.'

The kid certainly knew his manners. Erasa gave Goten some of her food. Goten assumed a sitting position while floating and started eating. His table manners were much better than those of his father, although Erasa wasn't sure whether they classified as table manners without the presence of a table. Erasa started eating while standing, unable to sit down without burning her butt again. Her pain reminded her of something else.

'Hey Goten? Did it hurt when you and Trunks fought Vegeta?'

'Yeah.' Goten said simply. 'But it doesn't hurt anymore now!'

'You really are a ridiculously strong kid aren't you? I bet your mom was really angry when she found out you and Trunks had entered the Adult Division.'

'She was really mad.' Goten said. 'She grounded me.'

Erasa was staring at Goten still floating, but didn't comment on it. Erasa looked around again. It was really hot here, ridiculously hot. Her clothes were starting to stick to her body due to her sweat and those fires everywhere were still burning without any sign of fuel. She still had no idea what this place was. But the panic she had felt earlier had lessened somewhat. Maybe it was the food, maybe it was Goten not looking scared, or maybe it was simply having some company she could talk to, even if that company was a six-year-old kid.

Once they'd finished eating and drank some water Erasa put her bag back in its capsule and put it back into her pocket. She kept some food and water for later, she didn't know how long they'd be stuck in here.

'Hey Goten. I was thinking, let's explore this place from above. Maybe we can figure out where we are. Could you carry me?'

'Why not just walk around?'

'Because you can see stuff better from above, and because I'm hoping it might be a bit cooler up there away from all those fires.'

'Oh. Okay then! I hope it's colder up there too!'

Erasa wondered if she wasn't too heavy for Goten. She wasn't particularly heavy for her age or length, but she was a lot taller and heavier than Goten. Goten floated up behind her and put his arms around her waist, then flew up, holding her around her waist. Erasa quickly felt the weight on her feet disappear as Goten carried her into the sky, seemingly with ease. It was an awfully uncomfortable position but Erasa couldn't think of any more comfortable ways with their huge size difference at the moment.

'I can't see much Miss Erasa, you're too big.' Goten complained.

'Goten, it's rude to call girls big.'

'But you are big!' Goten argued. 'You're like a grown-up!'

'I guess that's true…'

'This would be easy if you could fly too!'

'I guess I'm just really bad at it.' Erasa said. 'Do you know how long it took Miss Videl to learn how to fly?'

'Uhmm… she first came on Saturday, and then she could fly on uh… Sunday, so that's uh…'

'Two days.' Erasa finished his sentence. 'I don't think I'll be learning how to fly here then. I'll just look around.'

'I know!' Goten said. 'If you come live at my house I can teach you even when I'm grounded!'

'I don't think my parents would allow me going to live in your house Goten.'

'Well uhmm… what if you marry me? If you marry me you get to live in my house right?'

'Goten, only grown-ups can marry, you're not a grown-up.'

'Aww.' Goten said disappointed the loophole he thought of was busted.

Erasa looked around in the meantime. Everywhere she looked all she saw was black ground and fires, it was as if there was no end to it. At least it was a little bit cooler up here, but still really hot and being so close to Goten's body heat also didn't help cool down.

'Well what if you marry Gohan then? Gohan's birthday is in uhmm…' Erasa suddenly felt Goten counting on his fingers on her tummy, 'eleven nights of sleep and he'll be 18. He's a grown-up then! And you're also a grown-up! So you can marry Gohan right?!'

'Goten I'm not going to marry Gohan!' Erasa replied definitively, trying to shut this insane idea down immediately.

'Why not?' Goten insisted. 'You could get both Gohan and me to teach you how to fly.'

Erasa sighed. She knew Goten wasn't malicious, but he was still probing into stuff that was none of his business.

'Because uhmm…' Erasa started. 'Because when two people get married, they must first love each other a lot. And I only met Gohan like a month ago. You first need to get to know each other a lot better before you can marry them.'

'No, you're wrong. My mom asked my dad to marry her the first time they met!' Goten said. 'My mom said so!'

Erasa had no idea if Goten was making that up. Did people really propose to each other on their first meeting? Stuff like that only happened in North City right? Either way, why did she need to justify not marrying Gohan to Goten in the first place? Her love life was not Goten's business at all. Erasa had no idea what to tell Goten. If they ever got back Goten would probably tell Gohan everything without any kind of subtlety. She certainly didn't want Gohan to hear about her love interests through Goten of all people. She needed to shift the subject to something else.

'So Gohan's birthday is in eleven nights of sleep right? What do you usually do on birthdays?'

'Well uhmm… Mom always makes a big birthday cake and we go out somewhere. Last time we went camping in the woods, it was really fun!'

'Gohan told me you live in the woods. Can you tell me a bit about them?'

Goten started telling her a bit about the woods. About the animals in there, about the tiger Goten had once found who'd tried to eat him before he knocked it out, about the firewood he collected from time to time for his mom, while Erasa listened. Erasa realised that as far as his battle with Trunks hadn't already proven it, Goten was ridiculously strong. Way stronger than she was. Was that just that Saiyan heritage? And how ridiculously strong must Gohan be to be even stronger than that?

Erasa was distracted from her thoughts by seeing something move on the ground.

'Hey Goten?' Erasa pointed. 'What's that?'

'It looks like a red lizard or something.' Goten replied.

'It's really close to that fire isn't it?'

'Look!' Goten pointed, almost causing Erasa to fall. 'It's eating the fire! How is it not burning its tongue?'

Goten flew a bit closer and now Erasa could also see it. The red creature resembled the one that stole the Dragon Balls, but it had only four legs instead of six, and it didn't look like it had noticed them. And it indeed looked like it was eating the fire. Like many things she'd seen earlier that day, Erasa had never seen anything even remotely like it before.

'Careful Goten, don't get too close. It could be dangerous!'

'Do you think that fire is tasty?'

'No, I think that's way too hot to eat for humans. I already burned my butt, I don't want to burn my mouth too.'

Goten started sniggering again.

'Haha, you said butt again!'

Erasa sighed. At least someone was still having fun, even though the humour had reached bottom-level. Although Goten had been annoying and… well… six, Erasa had to admit that she'd have been in a total panic by now if she'd been in here alone. Goten's cheerful and carefree attitude at least gave her some hope that she'd actually survive this.

'Let's keep looking around Goten. Maybe we can find the one that stole the Dragon Balls, or maybe we can find a way home again.'

'Okay.'

They flew around some more. Erasa's waist started hurting from being carried there all the time, and her clothes started getting soaked by sweat. Meanwhile Goten wasn't very comfortable either. He couldn't see the ground very well.

'Hey Goten, could you carry me on your back instead? Maybe you can see a bit better that way.'

'Ehh, how do I move under you?'

Erasa hadn't thought of that. It wasn't easy switching in mid-air, and she didn't want to fall either.

'Let's land for a moment.'

'Okay.'

They landed as far as they could from fires and Goten released Erasa. Darn it was hot down here! Erasa quickly moved behind Goten and climbed on his back.

'Just hold my legs okay?'

'Okay.'

Goten lifted Erasa up by her upper legs and flew into the sky again. Once again Erasa was surprised at how easy Goten seemed to carry her, she was like half a metre taller than he was. The top of his head didn't even reach her shoulders. Fortunately it was a more comfortable position to be flying in for Erasa.

'Can you see better now?'

'Yeah, I can see much better!' Goten said cheerfully. 'That was a good idea Miss Erasa! Especially for someone that isn't very smart.'

Erasa sighed. She knew Goten was just repeating what Krillin had said, but she still didn't like his smart mouth.

'That's sweet of you to say that Goten.' Erasa lied. No sense in picking fights with her only company in this hellish place. 'Let's see if we can get more good ideas!'

'Oh I've got an idea!' Goten called out proudly. 'If those red lizard monsters eat fire, maybe we can find the one with the Dragon Balls near a fire!'

It was a good idea as any, so Erasa agreed.

Within a couple of minutes they had found a group of three red monsters close to a fire. Two of them had four legs and were eating the fire, and the third was a bit larger and had six legs. The larger one was spitting out fire.

'I don't see the Dragon Balls anywhere.' Erasa said while scanning the area.

'Eww! That big one is puking!' Goten said.

Erasa looked. The larger one was still spitting out fire as if it was a dragon or something. Considering they also ate fire Goten's explanation might not be that far off. But then the fire the monster had spit out was changing shape, shrinking in size and intensity. It looked very unnatural. And slowly the fire dissipated, leaving behind a small red creature similar to the other ones they'd seen but much smaller. Before Erasa could consider more about what she'd just seen Goten distracted her.

'What's that?' Goten looked into the sky in the distance. Erasa looked, and soon a group of five more red monsters appeared. These had wings, not like birds but like bats, and were flying.

'More monsters!' Erasa shrieked. 'With wings!'

'Wooow! So they're birdies!'

The group of flying monsters was approaching fast. They'd spotted them! Two of the monsters breathed fire at Goten and Erasa, causing Erasa to shriek again loudly while Goten flew out of the way. That was close.

'Hey!' Goten called out. 'Puking on us isn't very nice! That's nasty!'

Erasa doubted the monsters could talk, let alone speak their language. But before they could investigate that three of the monsters breathed fire again, and Goten had to climb quickly to avoid it. The heat Erasa felt from it was intense.

'Goten, You've gotta fight back!'

Goten flew quickly behind one of the monsters and kicked it from above in the head, causing it to crash down into the ground. He then swiftly kicked two others in their torso, but they quickly recovered.

Erasa then felt more heat emanating from Goten. Looking dizzily at him, Erasa noticed Goten had turned into a Super Saiyan. With his hands still tied carrying Erasa, Goten suddenly moved insanely fast behind one of the monsters and kicked it in the head. The monster's head separated from the rest of its body and flew at high speed against another monster. Erasa's head was spinning after Goten's insane movements, but she still registered the insane power that Goten put in his kicks.

'Oops!' Goten exclaimed. 'I hurt that monster bad! I'm sorry mister monster.'

'Look out!' Erasa shrieked loudly as the other four monsters attacked with more fire.

Goten moved out of the way so fast everything was a blur to Erasa, her vision shifting completely from one instant to the next, but she definitely felt the heat that barely missed them.

'Goten, keep on fighting! If they want to hurt us it's okay to hurt them!' Erasa yelled.

The next instant two of the monsters were both missing one of their wings and they were crashing towards the ground. This prompted the final two monsters to retreat into the distance.

'Umm… Goten?' Erasa said timidly. 'Did you attack the wings of those monsters? I didn't even see it happening.'

'I'm sorry Miss Erasa.' Goten said apologetically. 'When I fight with Gohan or Trunks they never get hurt like that!'

'Wow…' Erasa said blankly, still dizzy from Goten's ridiculously fast moves. Her heart felt like it was beating a million times a minute. 'It's okay Goten. Those monsters were also trying to hurt us badly. You saved me. I think you're going to be a great hero when you grow up, just like your big brother.'

'Really?!' Goten exclaimed excitedly. 'Do you think I could also get cool hero clothes like Gohan?'

Although Erasa still thought Gohan's Saiyaman outfit looked completely ridiculous, there was no need to tell Goten that.

'Yeah, sure. Why not?' Erasa said. If they ever got back home safely, Erasa would definitely get Goten a hero outfit.


	35. An Ominous Frenzy

'I'm seeing some activity near where Goku blew himself up.' North Kai said. 'It looks like Majin Buu survived.'

'No way!' Krillin exclaimed. 'There's no way anything could survive a direct hit from something like that!'

'Majin Buu has the power to create life to repair its own body,' the voice of Kaio-Shin said. 'It took a while but still…'

'So is that monster still injured?' Videl asked. 'If it's significantly weakened maybe we could…'

'It is rapidly recovering now.' North Kai interjected. 'By the time you get there it will be completely recovered already.'

'We also have some bad news from this side.' Dende said. 'Bulma and the others got attacked, we assume by monsters sent by Dabura. The monsters didn't have ki and came through portals from a different dimension. They were defeated but Goten and Erasa got trapped in there and those monsters managed to steal two Dragon Balls.'

'That's strange.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Could you describe the monsters?'

'They were red.' Lazuli said quickly. 'Orange eyes, varying numbers of limbs and eyes, and they could breathe fire that absorbed ki.'

'That's indeed demonic.' Kaio-Shin said. 'A troubling development. Why would Dabura be after the Dragon Balls? He shouldn't even know about them.'

'We don't have an answer for that.' Dende said. 'But in between the threats of both Dabura and Majin Buu...'

'And we don't even have Goku anymore to help us.' Krillin added.

'Is father there already?' Gohan asked. 'I'd like to talk to him.'

'No he isn't.' Piccolo said.

'I'm sorry Gohan.' Dende said empathetically. 'Your father's body couldn't be saved this time. Normally when someone dies there's a body, or at least fragments, to save and send to the afterlife. Then if Enma, who judges the souls of those who died, agrees with it the soul can live on in the afterlife in that body. But your father annihilated his entire body, there was no body left for him to inhabit in the afterlife.'

'So what does that mean?' Videl asked confused. 'Doesn't your body always stop functioning when you die anyway?'

'Normally when you die your body is no longer able to sustain itself in this world, but by bringing that body to the afterlife it can be restored to a state in which it can function in that world.' Dende explained. 'However, there simply isn't a trace of Goku's body left to bring to the afterlife. What it practically means is that Goku's soul will be judged again, but he will not be able to use a body ever again. He won't be able to join Piccolo and the others to communicate with us either.'

'I'm so sorry Gohan.' Krillin said empathetically.

Videl didn't know what to say. What could you say to someone who just lost his father? What would Erasa do? Erasa would probably force Gohan into a hug he really didn't want. Erasa always hugged pretty much everybody she at least somewhat liked. Videl didn't really feel comfortable doing that. She was fine hugging Erasa but she wasn't as close with Gohan. Videl was still rambling her thoughts when Gohan spoke up.

'So if Majin Buu's still there, what can you tell us about it?' Gohan asked. 'Does it have a weakness of some sort?'

'The only weakness I can come up with is its intelligence.' Kaio-Shin said. 'It can frequently let down its guard or act carelessly as it is focused on destruction and killing. But actually destroying Majin Buu is almost impossible. It doesn't need to be intelligent or careful if it is almost literally immortal.'

'Well, regardless… my father always taught me to never give up.' Gohan said determined. 'We can't just give up! If we can't beat it by force, we need to find a different way. Do you think there's any chance of Majin Buu listening to reason now that Bobbidy's influence is gone?'

'No.' Kaio-Shin said harshly. 'Majin Buu does not listen to reason. Majin Buu does not have a conscience, it was not made that way. All it wants is destruction.'

'But it tolerated Bobbidy's presence.' Krillin brought up. 'How did that work?'

'Back in the days it used Bibbidy because Bibbidy could travel between the dimensions thanks to its Kaio-Shin and MaKaio-Shin traits. With Bibbidy's assistance it gained access to the world of the Kaio-Shin. My guess is Buu only tolerates Bobbidy because it has a use for him.'

'I just thought of something.' Videl said. 'Can't we get Kaio-Shin and Piccolo to come back here to help out? Gohan's dad came here even though he was dead, can't they do the same? With Kaio-Shin we might even be able to get Erasa and Goten back, and the Dragon Balls! You said maybe Kaio-Shin could go to the Demon Realm right?'

'I'm afraid it's not that simple.' Kaio-Shin replied. 'Dead bodies returning to the living world is against nature. We have to go through quite a lot of work to actually pull it off, and even then it only lasts for a day. We're talking weeks of preparation here. The only reason we went through all that trouble for Goku was because we needed him at the Tournament to draw out Spopovitch and Yamu.'

That was a big bummer. Videl could read Gohan's disappointment from his face after he lit up for a second at the possibility of Piccolo coming back.

'What about Goku's grandfather?' Krillin asked. 'I remember he also came back for a day.'

'Uhmmm, well, we owed Baba a favour.' North Kai said hesitantly. 'She got me my old car, and she always gives these boxes of delicious chocolate to Enma.'

'Hmm, speaking of which…' Piccolo started. 'Where is your car? You had it the last time I was dead.'

'Got blown up with the old planet.' North Kai replied irritated. 'Took me a long time to modify that car too before it worked in this gravity.'

'North Kai, you accepted bribes to send people back for a day?' Kaio-Shin said sharply, as a teacher who caught his student cheating.

'Well uhmm, it wasn't me who sent him back. It was Enma, and it wasn't even for a day. It was like ten hours tops. All I did was not tell you. The guy just wanted to see his grandson again and he always told the best jokes, unlike this green guy over here.'

Videl had completely lost track of the interdimensional conversation. Just as she was about to speak up Dende interjected.

'North Kai, is it just me or does Majin Buu look smaller than before?'

'Well duh, Majin Buu is still recovering right?' Videl spoke up, when Korin bonked her on the head again.

'A bit more respectful. You're talking to God.'

Videl wondered why Dende apparently needed Korin to stand up for him.

'If you want to see, place your hand on my shoulder.' Dende said, completely indifferent to Videl's rudeness or Korin's rebuke.

Videl and Gohan both quickly flew to Dende.

'Uhmm, you're wearing robes.' Videl said. 'Do you need to undress?'

'No, just place your hand on top of the robe.'

Videl placed her right hand on the robe covering Dende's left shoulder and Gohan placed his left hand on the robe covering Dende's right shoulder. As soon as Videl made contact with Dende's robes a new image popped up in her head.

Videl saw a grotesque creature floating in the sky. She could see it was far away but for some reason she could also see it in great detail as if it was close. The creature was about two metres tall, pink, fat, with a weird flexible limb on its head, round holes on the sides of its head instead of ears, and no nose. It wore baggy white pants, a purple cape, and a black top that was too small for it. The top and cape were also torn.

'Is that pink monster Majin Buu?' Videl asked.

'Yes.' Kaio-Shin said. 'That is undoubtedly Majin Buu. And you're right Dende, it does look smaller than before.'

'So is it still recovering?' Gohan asked.

The pink monster looked like it was complete, it didn't look like it was still growing. The monster also looked furious which made it look all the more frightening.

'I don't think so.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Majin Buu doesn't recover like that.'

'Maybe it took permanent damage from Goku's last attack.' Korin theorised.

'It would be a first.' Kaio-Shin replied. 'As far as I know Majin Buu never took lasting damage before, it always fully recovered anything it took. But then again, we've never hit it quite as hard as that before either.'

Majin Buu moved again rapidly as if enraged. It was suddenly surrounded by some kind of ki and shot powerful energy beams into the sky. It didn't even seem aware it was doing that. Soon after Videl sensed the energy. It felt unlike anything Videl had felt before, it was somehow incomplete.

'It seems to be in pain or something.' Gohan said. 'Or is that just its natural behaviour?'

'I don't know.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Majin Buu has always been an eccentric and unpredictable creature. It loves destroying everything.'

'What's up with its energy?' Videl asked. 'It feels so weird, as if I can't sense a part of it.'

'You can only sense its half from this world.' Kaio-Shin explained. 'Its other half is demonic. Demonic lifeforms don't have ki.'

Majin Buu continued its tantrum and shot energy blasts everywhere. Several blasts fell towards the ground causing massive explosions, others flew off into the sky. The explosions were immensely powerful, they would have easily destroyed the entire stadium at the World Martial Arts Tournament.

'Wow that monster is powerful.' Videl said quietly and terrified.

'Fortunately nobody lives out there.' Krillin said.

'Is there nothing we can do to stop it before it destroys the entire planet?' Lazuli asked.

'You're right, we must stop it somehow.' Gohan said determined. 'I'll go there and do my best to stop it.'

Gohan was about to fly off when Videl stopped him. It was an instinct, a gut feeling that told her Gohan had no chance to fight this monster, and that it would be a terrible mistake to go after it now.

'Gohan wait!'

Gohan froze.

'Are you sure you can beat a monster like that?' Videl asked worryingly.

'No, but… I can't just let it destroy the planet! I have to at least try!'

Videl had never experienced Gohan so determined before. Videl didn't know what was wise. What did wisdom even mean when there was no way to win? All Videl knew was that she didn't want Gohan to leave and die all alone.

'I think Videl is right.' Kaio-Shin said. 'There's definitely something different about Majin Buu. If we can study it a bit longer maybe we can find a new weak spot.'

'But what if it blows up the planet while we're here just doing nothing?!' Gohan retaliated. 'I won't just stand here and do nothing!'

Videl grabbed Gohan's wrist.

'If you go, I'll go with you! I'm not gonna let you die out there alone. I-I don't know how much use I can be in such a fight but I'll do my best! I-I can't let such a monster destroy my friends or my planet!'

'No!' Gohan replied, doing his best to be strict and definitive. 'It's far too dangerous for you! You'll just get yourself killed!'

'And you aren't just getting yourself killed?' Videl said harshly. 'This is just as much my planet to defend as it is yours!'

Gohan seemed shocked by that reply. Videl could see that he was internally arguing with himself. Gohan turned to Krillin, who had joined them.

'What do you think I should do Krillin?'

'I think we should listen to Kaio-Shin.' Krillin said. 'He knows this monster best. Goku and Vegeta already tried fighting it without knowing that monster, and they failed. And I don't want to tell your mom we lost you, she already freaked out after what happened to Goten.'

'Alright then, I'll stay.' Gohan surrendered.

Videl then sensed another big surge of energy, but this time she wasn't in contact with Dende. It was that same incomplete ki she felt earlier, Majin Buu's ki. But there was something else about it, Videl didn't know what it was.

'It looks like Bobbidy also survived.' Dende announced.

Videl quickly grabbed Dende's shoulder again to see. Majin Buu was still there in its frenzy, sending energy blasts everywhere, but there was also another creature there. It was orange and somewhat humanoid. It was slightly smaller than Buu.

'Is the orange guy Bobbidy?' Videl asked.

'Yes he is.' Dende replied.

Videl saw Bobbidy struggling to dodge Buu's energy blasts. What was that pink monster doing?

'How did he survive Goku's attack?' Piccolo asked. 'Goku almost destroyed the planet with that blast.'

'He must have teleported himself to safety before the attack hit.' Kaio-Shin theorised. 'It is a Kaio-Shin technique he can use.'

Videl could see Bobbidy was continuingly trying to get Buu's attention to calm it down, but Buu didn't seem to notice Bobbidy's presence at all.

'What are they doing?' Videl asked.

Nobody seemed to have an answer.

'Did you see that?' Krillin exclaimed suddenly. 'Buu just shrunk a little bit!'

Videl hadn't seen it. Buu was moving so rapidly it was hard to tell what was going on. Energy flared up again around Buu in a bright pinkish-red aura. Bobbidy clearly didn't understand what was going on either, but it looked absolutely mad as it continued to try and communicate with Majin Buu. Bobbidy was then hit by one of Majin Buu's attacks and was blasted back into the sky.

'Maybe it decided it doesn't need Bobbidy anymore.' Lazuli theorised matter-of-factly.

Videl opened her eyes and looked around on the lookout. She saw Lazuli was next to her also holding Dende's shoulder, as were Gohan, Krillin, and Korin. It was getting very crowded behind Dende.

'It looks as if it's not in control of what it's doing.' Korin said.

'I agree.' Kaio-Shin said. 'I've never seen Buu like this before. It always destroyed everything, but it always seemed to enjoy watching the destruction it caused. But now it looks like it's not even aware of it.'

As Buu continued its frenzy, it suddenly started flying rapidly in a certain direction. Videl had no idea where it was going.

'Where's it going?' Gohan asked.

Nobody seemed to have an answer. Majin Buu flew so fast that Bobbidy needed to repeatedly teleport to keep up, still trying to get through to Buu.

'Why does Bobbidy keep trying?' Videl asked. 'It's not like Buu's listening.'

'Remember Bobbidy's mind is the result of hundreds of years of manipulation by Buu.' Kaio-Shin replied. 'You cannot expect him to ever give up on Buu, he is driven mad. Most likely he fully believes that Majin Buu is the only creature that can help him achieve his goals, and the only way.'

As Buu travelled across the sea it continued with its frenzy. Videl saw the remains of several fish fly into the sky and burn due to the extreme speed. Steam was rising into the air wherever one of Buu's blasts hit the water. Within a few minutes Majin Buu had reached shore again, and another minute later Majin Buu was approaching a large city. Videl recognised the city, it was West City.


	36. Breakdowns and Bonding

Erasa slowly recovered from her dizziness on Goten's back. As she got her senses back, a new frightening realisation hit her. Two monsters had fled and knew where they were.

'Goten… I think we should be going somewhere else quickly.'

'Why?'

'Because I think those two monsters that flew away went to get some of their mean friends.'

'Can't I just beat them up too if they're mean to us?'

'What if they're stronger than you?' Erasa argued. 'It's dangerous, I think it's better to hide.'

'Oh alright then.' Goten said. 'Which way do you want to go?'

Erasa looked around. Everywhere looked pretty much the same, with fires on the black ground and the red sky, although she saw some sort of mountain in the distance.

'Let's explore that mountain over there.' Erasa pointed.

Goten obliged and flew off to the mountain. He was ridiculously fast as a Super Saiyan, even faster than Gohan's magical cloud had been, although Erasa wasn't too scared of falling. Goten's grip felt secure and the wind felt as non-existent as when she flew on Gohan's magical cloud.

Before long they arrived at the mountain. Now that they were closer, Erasa studied it a bit better. Fires were burning on the mountainside just like pretty much everywhere else in this crazy place, but there were also openings in the mountain. Light was shimmering out through the openings, like fires were burning inside. Was it some kind of volcano?

'It's a fire mountain!' Goten called out. 'Mom told me a story once about when the mountain where grandpa's castle is was on fire. Maybe we're near his castle!'

'Your grandpa's castle?' Erasa asked. 'Can you tell me that story?'

'Grandpa has a big castle on the mountain. But once, a long time ago, a fire had broken out and it was so big it was burning on the entire mountain, so grandpa and mom couldn't get back to their castle. And then one day my dad showed up. Grandpa asked him to go get Master Roshi to put out the fire. And my dad got Master Roshi with the Flying Nimbus, and Master Roshi used his Kamehameha wave to try and put out the fire. But the Kamehameha was too strong and he accidentally destroyed grandpa's castle. Grandpa wasn't too mad at him though, because the fire was out and he could rebuild his castle. And then mom asked dad to marry him and he said yes!'

'Wow, that's a nice story Goten.' Erasa said. 'But I don't think this is grandpa's mountain. The fire there was already gone a long time ago right? This one is still burning.'

'Oh, I didn't think of that.' Goten said disappointed.

'But what is the Kamehameha wave?'

Erasa recalled hearing the name somewhere earlier today, but with everything she'd learned today she couldn't recall where.

'It's this really cool thing! Gohan taught me!'

'Can you show me?'

'Haha, you're weird. Of course I can't show it when I'm carrying you.'

'Okay then, why don't you put me down before showing me?'

Goten flew to the base of the mountain and put Erasa down.

'Oh wait, I forgot.' Goten said suddenly, and he turned back to his regular form. 'Gohan says I can't do the Kamehameha wave as a Super Saiyan.'

Erasa wondered why that was, but she didn't ask. Goten held both of his hands to the right side of his body now, next to his hips, as if he was holding an invisible ball. A cyan light quickly appeared in his hands, and he then pointed his hands straight ahead in the direction of the mountain. An incredibly bright cyan-coloured beam erupted from Goten's hands, and it hit the mountain dead on. A massive explosion immediately followed, and Erasa was blown back by a very strong gust of hot winds. Erasa landed on her arms and immediately recoiled as the searing ground burned her arms.

As Erasa recovered she looked back at the mountain. Only there was no more mountain. It was completely blown away, and Erasa immediately understood why Gohan didn't want Goten to use this technique as a Super Saiyan.

'See?!' Goten called out proudly. 'That's the Kamehameha wave! Isn't it cool?! And I destroyed the mountain just like Master Roshi!'

'Wow.' Erasa said quietly. 'That's indeed cool.'

From the rubbles of the mountain an enormous fire erupted, and it was ridiculously hot.

'Uhmm, Goten?' Erasa hesitated. 'Let's get out of here! That fire is way too hot!'

Goten picked up Erasa again on his back and flew off quickly.

 _Dammit Erasa, why do you always have to be so curious! That was way too dangerous for comfort, and those monsters must have noticed that explosion too!_

With her clothes completely soaked in her sweat, Erasa wanted to cry. She couldn't handle more. She hated this place, she hated the everlasting heat, she hated the danger, she hated not understanding anything, she missed Videl, and it was as if there was no escaping this hellish world. Everywhere they looked there was only more fire, more monsters, and more danger. Erasa felt responsible and yet inadequate. She was the oldest and the wisest, she should be the one to protect Goten and get him back to safety somehow, yet Goten had been the one protecting her all this time.

'I wanna make even bigger Kamehameha waves, just like Gohan.' Goten said suddenly.

'E-even bigger?' Erasa replied trembling.

'Yeah, just like Gohan! That'd be so cool!'

'Gohan can make even bigger ones?'

'Haha, of course he can, he's way stronger than me.'

Erasa wasn't sure whether to feel relieved that Goten was this ridiculously strong, or scared that all that power was in the hands of a little kid. At least said little kid was on her side.

'Please don't try them out on me okay?'

'Of course not! Gohan says I can't aim at nice people unless I'm in a fight.'

'You think I'm nice?'

'Sure. You're not very smart and you're not strong but you're nice and fun. You're no meanie at all.'

There was something really endearing to Goten saying that. Little kids could be so genuine.

'Thanks Goten, that's real sweet of you to say that. You know what? Let's stop for a moment and have another drink.'

'Yay!'

* * *

As Erasa and Goten drank their water Erasa wondered how much they could afford to drink. She had no idea how long it'd take to find a way back, if ever. But there was also no sense in dying of dehydration before even running out of water stocks. And with this place being so ridiculously hot that might not even take that long. Still, with some influx of water she calmed down a little bit and could think a bit more clearly again.

'Do you like to fight Miss Erasa?' Goten asked curiously.

'No, I don't actually, that's more Videl's thing. I'm far too scared to get hurt.'

'So what do you like to do?'

'I often go practicing with the school band, I really like that.'

Goten looked confused.

'What's a school band?'

'Well, we're like a team of people from school, and we make music together. I am the lead singer.'

'That sounds like fun!' Goten said excitedly. 'Can you sing something? Please Miss Erasa?'

Erasa couldn't say no to Goten's request when he was looking at her like that. He even said please. So Erasa sang Goten her favourite song from her childhood: _The Love Rainbow_. The song was about a magical rainbow that'd bring love and good luck to anyone who saw it. It didn't sound as good without any instruments to support her singing, but Goten seemed to like it a lot. He applauded loudly when she finished.

'That is so cool! Your song is so pretty!'

Goten's response filled Erasa's heart with joy. There was something so sincere and innocent about it.

'Thanks a lot Goten, that's really sweet of you.' Erasa said sincerely, and Goten returned with a big grin.

'So when you are done with school, will you become a singer?'

Erasa didn't really know yet what she wanted to be. But seeing Goten respond like that was great, maybe his idea was actually quite good. If she could bring smiles to peoples' faces with music, that'd be great.

'You know what, maybe I will. I'm definitely going to try. But what about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?'

'I wanna be a superhero like Gohan! With a cool outfit and a cool name and a cool pose!'

Erasa laughed.

'Of course you can do that. I'm sure you can be a great hero as long as you use your powers for good stuff only like Gohan.'

 _And get a lot more sense of style than Gohan has…_

As Goten grinned widely Erasa remembered her vow to get Goten his own superhero costume once they got back. It wouldn't do to tell him just yet, it would be better as a surprise. But they had to go back to their world first. After this little break Erasa's mood was a lot better.

* * *

'Let's go out there and explore some more.' Erasa offered. 'It's also colder in the sky, what do you say?'

They took off again and started exploring. Erasa had no idea where they'd come from or where they'd already been. After about fifteen minutes of finding nothing but the same old black ground with fires Erasa noticed something moving in the red sky.

'Hey Goten, can you see that?' Erasa pointed.

'It looks like fire… Woah!'

That was close! It was indeed fire. Small fireballs falling from the sky. And there were a lot of them. Goten managed to dodge successfully but the incredibly rapid changing of directions left Erasa dizzy again. Holding on to Goten for dear life, Erasa closed her eyes in fear and waited for the nightmare to end. After a minute or two Erasa felt Goten's movements calming down and she slowly opened her eyes again. Her head hung forwards, and being carried on Goten's back, she could see Goten's face upside down beneath her.

'Haha, your face is green!'

'I'm a bit dizzy Goten.'

'That was fun!' Goten said excitedly, completely oblivious to Erasa's suffering. 'It was like dodging practice with Gohan!'

'D-Dodging practice w-with Gohan?' Erasa repeated in a daze.

'Yeah, it's really fun! You should try it too!'

Erasa groaned. Although her good mood had returned quickly after their singing break, her suffering had returned even faster. All the joy she had felt just fifteen minutes ago by the end of their break was gone, replaced with the cruel reality of their situation. She had no idea how to get back home, it was still ridiculously dangerous here, and nobody even knew they were in this world. Bulma and the others must be missing them but completely clueless where they went. Maybe they would think Erasa had kidnapped Goten or something. Goten must have sensed something was up with Erasa, as he started looking concerned.

'Are you alright Miss Erasa?'

Erasa started crying.

'I'm so scared!'

'What are you scared of Miss Erasa?'

'Of all the fires and all the monsters and the fire from the sky and not being able to go home anymore.' Erasa cried. 'I'm not strong or cool or brave like you or Gohan or Videl.'

'Please don't cry Miss Erasa.' Goten said, trying to cheer her up. 'I'm strong enough to fight those monsters and I can dodge way faster if I go Super Saiyan.'

'Y-you can go even faster?'

'Yeah, when I do dodging practice with Gohan he makes it way harder. You can't just give up Miss Erasa! Gohan always says a hero never gives up! I want to be a hero so I'm not going to give up, especially not against some stupid weak monsters!'

Through her tears Erasa could see Goten's determined little face. He wasn't scared. He was determined to not give up. And maybe Goten was right. They'd survived so far. But it was just so darned scary and they'd already had way too many close calls for Erasa's liking.

 _Come on Erasa! Yes this entire shit sucks, but you're the grown-up here! Well, sort-of, you're 17! That's practically an adult right? If you can't keep it together, why should Goten? You can't afford to panic!_

'Y-you're right Goten.' Erasa said, drying her tears. 'We can't give up. Do you have any ideas on how to get home?'

'Uhmm… what about that one monster we saw in the airplane?' Goten suggested. 'That monster could find the airplane. Maybe it knows the way back! Let's find it and ask it.'

Erasa could see gaping holes in this plan. For one, she doubted the monster could talk let alone would be willing to cooperate, and secondly, they hadn't had any luck so far tracking that monster down. But maybe if that one monster could enter their world, so could the others. Considering they certainly wouldn't find a way back by just staying here floating, they might as well try it. How did they call it? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Well, she certainly was desperate.

'Are you sure you can beat those monsters if they try to hurt us?'

'Yeah, they're really weak. Not as weak as you but still really weak!'

'Okay then. Let's find one of those monsters.'

* * *

It didn't take them long to find more monsters. Within about five minutes Goten spotted a large group that was flying towards them.

'It's a lot of them.' Erasa said hesitantly. 'Can you fight all of them if they become mean?'

'I think it's easier without you on my back.'

'Okay, then put me down.'

Goten quickly landed and Erasa got off Goten's back. Goten quickly flew back into the sky and transformed into that crazy Super Saiyan thing while Erasa watched, trying to stay hidden.

Goten approached the group.

'Hey Mister Monster!' Goten called out. 'Miss Erasa and I are lost here! Could you tell us the way home please?'

Erasa had to admit Goten was brave and he showed manners in his way of asking. If this actually worked that'd be the craziest thing she'd experienced all day.

But apparently they had found the limit of insanity in this world. The monsters did not reply to Goten but attacked. What followed was way too fast for Erasa to see. Fire flew everywhere, golden light from Goten shone from various different places, and several monsters crashed to the ground with injured wings. Erasa realised she was panting due to the heat, and sweat was covering her entire body. Her entire clothes were so soaked with sweat she'd probably have to burn them if she ever wanted to get rid of the smell. How did Goten still manage to fight in this heat?

Meanwhile more and more monsters crashed to the ground. How many had Goten already defeated? Twenty? Thirty? Erasa didn't know, but Goten continued to fight on. Erasa hoped that eventually the monsters would surrender and show them the way home, even though she knew it was idle hope.

Erasa then heard some strange sounds coming from behind her. Looking around, she noticed four of the injured monsters were crawling towards her. Erasa shrieked loudly in panic. She wanted to run but it felt like her body was frozen. They opened their mouths to unleash their fire spit and Erasa closed her eyes in desperation and covered her face with her arms, awaiting the searing heat that would kill her. There wouldn't even be a body left of her for her family to bury. They probably would never know what had happened to her. As far as they would know she would have suddenly gone missing while being with a group she'd never even met before today, and she'd be remembered as the girl who suddenly kidnapped a six-year-old boy and was never seen again.

But the burning heat never came. Erasa suddenly felt small arms grabbing her around her waist and carrying her into the sky at immense speed. She convinced herself to open her eyes again. Goten had come to save her again.

'G-Goten?' Erasa said shaking. 'Y-You saved me again…'

But Goten wasn't paying attention to her. He turned towards the monsters.

'You meanies! Miss Erasa didn't do anything to you!'

Another voice was then audible from behind them, a voice Erasa did not recognise, a voice which froze all the other monsters right in their place.

'Yes you did…'

They slowly turned around. There was a figure behind them, maybe fifteen metres away or so, looking much more humanoid than any of the other monsters they'd encountered so far, and the first who could fly here without wings. It was tall, its legs were covered by white trousers, and its upper body was covered by some kind of blue cloth. It wore a white cape, and had a reddish skin.


	37. Parental Worries

Majin Buu stopped and hovered above West City. Videl shuddered imagining what Majin Buu could do there. Had she made a terrible mistake stopping Gohan earlier?

'You're shaking a bit Videl.' Dende said. 'If you want you can let go to avoid seeing it.'

'No.' Videl said resolutely. 'I _will_ watch this.'

Majin Buu exploded with ki attacks again, but seemed to deliberately steer them into the sky. Why wasn't it attacking the city?

'That monster is just showing off to terrify the people before their deaths!' Krillin said angrily.

Videl wasn't sure. The monster seemed to suffer and barely in control of its power. Bobbidy caught up and was screaming at Buu, but Buu was as unresponsive to him as ever. Now that they'd stopped moving, Videl noticed Buu's cape and top looked more damaged than earlier, and Buu was now about the same size as Bobbidy. Wasn't Buu larger before?

'You're right Videl. Majin Buu has shrunk.' Korin said, reading her mind. 'I noticed it too.'

'But why?'

Nobody replied. Nobody knew. Buu sent more energy attacks into the sky and promptly descended to the streets of West City. It landed in the middle of a busy street. The landing was rough, the street cracked and tore open due to the impact. Chaos ensued as people in their cars quickly stopped to avoid this strange monster that had fallen from the sky. Some cars crashed into each other due to the sudden road damage. Some people approached Buu curiously, others were running away in a panic.

Majin Buu then turned into a gooey liquid-like substance which collapsed onto itself, leaving a foul pink puddle on the street.

'Ewww!' Videl exclaimed in disgust. 'What the hell is that? Did it die?!'

But the puddle started moving. The people that had approached curiously recoiled and tried to run away, but the puddle spread out and surrounded them. The pink liquid made contact with several people and started creeping up their bodies, covering them. Although Videl could not hear them, she could clearly see they were screaming and suffering horribly. Despite having a strong stomach Videl started feeling very nauseated at this.

'W-What's that monster doing?!' Gohan asked shaking as at least a dozen people were completely covered in the pink goo now. And those people appeared to shrink as they were covered in the goo, as if the goo dissolved them somehow. It was like something straight from a horror movie, but much more terrifying as it wasn't just a movie.

Before long there was nothing left of the covered victims but several pink puddles. The goo puddles concentrated again on the street and started combining. It was as if they were building up a new body, and before long Majin Buu had completely reformed itself from the goo. Only it looked slightly different. It was slightly taller than before, a bit slimmer, and looked a little bit more humanoid. And the purple cape was missing.

'That's seriously the nastiest and scariest thing I've ever seen!' Videl exclaimed, her voice an octave higher than usual. 'That monster killed all those people!'

Majin Buu wasn't done yet. It still seemed unstable and scattered a large amount of energy attacks at random. Videl saw buildings explode, vehicles being blasted into the sky, and people being gruesomely killed by the horrific violence. She then felt Gohan retreating away from their group and she let go of Dende's shoulder.

'Krillin…' Gohan started quietly. He looked scared, but also determined. 'I-I can't beat that monster. I need to get stronger. C-Could you help me train?'

'But Buu's destroying people now!' Krillin argued, voicing Videl's sentiments too. 'At this rate it'll eradicate the entire planet in a day or so. We don't have the time!'

'I mean, in the Room of Spirit and Time.' Gohan said. 'I-I can't improve alone, I need a training partner.'

Videl had no idea what this Room of Spirit and Time was, but she wasn't intending on being left out. She could help too right?!

'I'll help you train Gohan!' Videl said quickly, attracting Gohan's attention.

'No you can't.' Gohan said in a tone that told her Gohan didn't want to leave any room for discussion. 'The gravity in the Room of Spirit and Time is too much for you, I don't think you could even walk in there.'

'Alright then Gohan.' Krillin said before Videl could argue. 'I've never done gravity training before, but if I can do anything help you get strong enough to defeat that monster I will.'

'That's a good idea.' Korin said. 'Put your newfound knowledge to the test. How long do you think you'll need?'

'I think we could spare half an hour, that's over a week in there.' Gohan replied. 'That's assuming we'll get Dragon Balls again to wish everything back. I just hope that monster won't be doing too much damage in the meantime. We can't wish back anyone who was killed by Cell before.'

Korin nodded, and although Videl didn't understand what Gohan was talking about, she saw the internal struggle behind his eyes. He was struggling just as much not to go out there immediately and get himself killed by Buu as she was, if not more.

'Alright then, we'll try to figure out what's going on with Buu in the meantime.' Korin said. 'If anything happens we'll get you earlier.'

Before Videl could ask for clarification on what Gohan meant, Gohan and Krillin had already rushed off.

'What is the Room of Spirit and Time?' Videl asked.

'It's a room here on the lookout.' Dende replied. 'Well, not really a room more so as a gateway to a different dimension. Time flows faster in that dimension. Spend one year in there, and out here only one day passes. If Gohan's in there for a week in his experience, only about half an hour will have passed out here.'

Dende's explanation made Videl's head spin.

'So if Gohan trains with Krillin for half an hour and uhh…'

'He trains for a full week in there with Krillin.' Dende said. 'But to us, outside of the room, it will look as if they only spent half an hour. It's a method of getting a lot of training done in a very short amount of time.'

'What was it about the gravity that Gohan mentioned?'

'The gravity is stronger in that dimension than here on Earth, it is ten times stronger.' Dende replied. 'If you aren't already very strong such gravity can be dangerous and immobilise you. It makes it hard to move if you're not used to it, but on the upside increased gravity can also enhance your training benefits tremendously.'

Videl remembered seeing Gohan's struggle in his eyes, and understood it wasn't cowardice that made Gohan enter the Room of Spirit and Time, it was courage.

* * *

Ten minutes had passed since Gohan and Krillin had entered the Room of Spirit and Time. Videl had taken glances to the carnage at West City by placing her hand on Dende's shoulder, but it was horrible to watch and be helpless up here. Majin Buu had continued its destruction of West City, killing people by enveloping them in that nasty pink goo, and repeatedly ejecting energy attacks everywhere.

Videl wanted to run. She wanted to be alone and escape this nightmare, yet felt incredibly lonely. She didn't know Korin, Lazuli, or Dende at all. She missed Erasa, and despite it only having been ten minutes she already missed Gohan. Something about his presence at least made her feel safe, and she hadn't realised that until he was gone. And the only thing he'd said was that she wasn't strong enough to handle the gravity, that she was too weak. Throughout her life numerous people had told her she wouldn't make it as a fighter, that she was too small, that it was impossible to develop the necessary strength in such a small body, or that girls weren't fit to be fighters. And she had proven them all wrong. She even beat her dad.

A luxurious airplane approached the lookout and landed. Videl recognised it as Bulma's airplane. Had they finally gathered all the remaining Dragon Balls? The door opened and Chi-Chi jumped out first. She looked around frantically and spotted Videl. She immediately ran to Videl and grabbed her by the shoulders.

'Videl! Where's Gohan?!'

'H-He went training with Krillin.'

'Where?!'

'In t-this one place, what was it called again?' Videl replied shaken. She'd already forgotten the name.

'The Room of Spirit and Time.' Dende finished.

'Don't worry Chi-Chi.' Korin said. 'Gohan's fine.'

Chi-Chi collapsed and sat down on the ground.

'Can I see him?'

'I'll go get him.' Videl quickly said, when Korin stopped her.

'I don't think that's a good idea. They need all the time they can get in there.' Korin said, before turning down his volume to a whisper. 'You need to trust me on this one, you can't handle that gravity yet.'

Videl didn't like being called weak. The only thing stopping her from storming to the Room to prove Korin wrong was his first argument, Gohan needed all the time he had. Bulma started discussing things with Lazuli but Videl could barely pay attention. She slowly wandered off, just wanting to be alone. She felt useless in the midst of this desperate situation made evermore real by seeing Chi-Chi crying, which reminded her that Goten was also still gone. What did Videl even do here? What could she possibly do? She sat down a distance away from the rest, far enough that she wouldn't overhear the others talking. Videl felt she ought to go comfort Chi-Chi, but she had no idea how to do that or what to say, feeling desperate and helpless herself after witnessing Buu's apocalypse in West City.

'Hey.'

Videl looked up. It was Yamcha, he was looking at her and sat down next to her.

'Hey.'

'How're you holding up?' Yamcha asked concerned.

'Pretty high I guess. About fifty kilometres or so, give or take?'

Yamcha gave a small chuckle. The poor attempt at humour was probably painfully obvious.

'Hey, listen.' Yamcha started. 'I'm probably bad at this, but I'm sorry for what happened to your friend.'

Great, as if she needed more reminders of horrible situations. Yamcha sounded genuine, but Videl didn't want to talk about Erasa. Thinking about her stuck in some unknown world just made her feel more powerless.

'Hey, listen.' Yamcha said, taking Videl's lack of response as a cue to continue. 'We'll do everything we can to save her, alright?'

'And what about all those other people huh?!' Videl snapped. 'I just saw that Buu monster destroy half a city and kill all those people! Erasa's my best friend but…! '

Videl got her words scrambled in her emotion. Seeing all those people die in those horrifying ways and now being reminded of Erasa's situation, it made her fear similar things were happening to Erasa at that very moment, she really didn't want to think about Erasa getting dissolved in horrible pink goo!

Yamcha, who'd flinched from Videl's outburst, tried to come up with a counterpoint.

'Videl, I promise we'll get those Dragon Balls back somehow and we'll bring all those people back!'

'You just don't get it!' Videl cried out. 'I-I just hate being stuck here being completely useless! Seeing all this shit happening and just sitting here doing nothing! Now Krillin went off with Gohan to train and I'm just too weak and useless to even be there with them!'

'Angry again huh?' Korin said. Videl hadn't noticed his approach at all. 'You really should work on that.'

At that moment Videl recognised the ringtone of her phone coming from Korin. He took the phone in his hands and Videl saw on the screen it was her father. Korin answered the call.

'Hello.'

Videl could hear everything her father screamed through the phone without any issue.

'Who're you?! Where's my daughter?!'

'I'm Master Korin.' Korin said matter-of-factly. 'And your daughter is right here with me. We're at God's place.'

'What do ya mean, God's place?!' Mr. Satan raged through the phone. 'I'm sick of this angelic business bullshit I've been hearing people tell me about my girl! Let me talk to Videl right now you crazy lunatic!'

'That's no way to make a request to a Master.' Korin commented calmly. 'I can see where Videl got her anger issues from.'

Videl was rooted in her place, clueless on how to act. Although she secretly enjoyed Korin antagonising her father, she was convinced it would only make his behaviour worse.

'You've got the wrong guy to pick a fight with, _Master._ ' Mr. Satan replied angrily, saying that last word with extra disdain as if he didn't believe Korin was worthy of the title. 'Do you know who you're talking to?!'

'To Videl's father I presume.'

'That's right! And also the World Martial Arts Champion.'

'Really?' Korin said sceptically. 'I was under the impression you lost to your daughter today.'

'Yeah, well uhmm. The Tournament got cancelled, so there's no new Champ. So technically I'm still the Champ.'

'But your loss was still fair though wasn't it?'

'Yes, but does that matter? Just let me talk to my daughter!'

'Well, at least you're admitting the loss was fair instead of coming up with excuses.' Korin said. 'I'll let you talk to your daughter.'

Korin handed the phone to Videl, whose first instinct was to immediately hang up. She didn't want to talk to her lying scumbag of a father.

'Hanging up?' Korin whispered to Videl. 'Didn't take you for a coward.'

Videl glanced fiercely at Korin, took the phone, and brought it to her ear.

'Hey.' Videl said determined into the phone.

'Videl!' Her father screamed. 'I tried to contact you for hours! Where are you?'

'I'm at God's place, with Gohan and some others.'

'Don't give me that crap Videl. Those idiots at security might buy that angel story but I…'

'I'm not lying to you.' Videl said harshly. 'You're the fraud who's been lying to me for years. And I told you I didn't ever want to see you again!'

'Well, I'm still responsible for you! And you disappeared along with all the other fighters that were still in the Tournament, and then these guys say you went away with angels and stuff…'

'What do you want?' Videl interjected.

'I'm worried about you.' Mr. Satan admitted. 'You disappeared, there has been a massive explosion in the western continent in the desert, apparently larger than even nuclear bombs, and nobody knows what caused it, and then West City got attacked by some monster. Can you blame me for worrying about my only daughter?'

'Well I'm safe.' Videl said coldly. 'So you can stop worrying. Anything else?'

'Just tell me what's going on Videl.'

Videl really didn't feel like telling her father the whole story. But Korin's words about her being a coward also stung.

'I'm just trying to help Gohan and the others defeat this pink Buu monster that's been attacking the world.' Videl summarised.

'Gohan…' Mr. Satan murmured. 'That was the boy who was with you when you were recovering right? The one who beat Cell?'

'That's right.'

Videl could almost hear Mr. Satan's mind grinding hard trying to figure out how to deal with this situation. After about fifteen agonising seconds Mr. Satan finally replied.

'Okay then.' Mr. Satan conceded. 'I guess I've got to trust you to make the right decisions. You've already been a better hero than me these last few years. Is there anything I can do to help out?'

'No, I don't think so. This Buu monster's apparently even stronger than Cell.'

'Promise me you'll be careful Videl.' Mr. Satan said. 'Don't take unnecessary risks. You're smart and strong, but you have a tendency to take too much risk. And let me know if I can do anything. If there's anything I can do to help out…'

'Like lying?'

Mr. Satan was silent for a moment. Videl knew it was a low blow, but she didn't care about his feelings. She considered the fact she hadn't hung up yet more than he deserved.

'I already told you I'm sorry about that Videl.' Mr. Satan said.

'It's not just okay because you say sorry.' Videl said harshly. 'It doesn't work like that, you lied to me for years.'

'I get that. You go and help that boy and those others defeat that monster, and be the hero I never was.' Mr. Satan said. 'And Videl…'

'What?'

'You know I love you, and I'm proud of you.'

'I know.'

She hung up and put her phone back in her pocket.

'That was brave of you.' Korin said softly.

'It was more than he deserved.' Videl said harshly. 'Why do you care about what's between me and my dad anyway?'

Korin didn't reply. As Videl tried to figure out what Korin was thinking she heard North Kai's voice in her head again.

'Are you guys still watching?'

'I am.' Dende replied in her head.

Videl rushed back to Dende and placed her hand back on his shoulder. She didn't want to think about her father anymore. As soon as she made contact she saw West City again. It was barely recognisable now, the entire city was in ruins. Rubble was randomly scattered in the streets: pieces from buildings, furniture, vehicles, and other objects, some of which were burning. And she saw Bobbidy again. Only he was slowly getting enveloped by pink goo, as those people had been earlier. As Bobbidy was dissolved by Buu's pink gooey substance Lazuli spoke up.

'I guess it doesn't tolerate Bobbidy anymore.'

'It needed Bobbidy to reach other dimensions.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Without Bobbidy it can't reach the Kaio-Shin realm or the Demon Realm and cause destruction there. I don't know why it turned on him, killing Bobbidy limits its destructive prospects.'

'Does it matter?' Lazuli remarked. 'One less enemy to worry about.'

Majin Buu quickly reformed. It looked significantly different from before. It was no longer fat, it was significantly slimmer. It no longer had the cape or the top, and it was still around two metres tall. The vision was then suddenly dominated by a bright red light. As the intense light slowly dimmed down Videl saw the entire city was levelled; there was pretty much nothing left. She deduced a massive explosion had occurred for some reason. Did Buu do that? She also saw various portions of pink gooey stuff join together in the air, reforming once again into Majin Buu's shape.

'That was Kaio-Ken energy!' North Kai suddenly proclaimed.


	38. The Room which was not a Room

The Room of Spirit and Time was a strange place. Gohan did not know why it was called a room, it was nothing like a room. There was absolutely nothing there except for one building which housed their beds, food, clocks (there was no day-night cycle to count days), a bathroom, and the door back to the lookout. Outside the building was nothing but an endless white void which was quite dizzying until you got used to it. The void housed an indestructible white ground, and the sky looked white too. Gohan suspected there was some kind of energy source that emitted white light permeating the very space itself here, causing everything to appear white and allowing them to see, as there was no other light source to be found.

* * *

Two days had passed since Gohan and Krillin had entered the Room of Spirit and Time. They hadn't managed to do much training together on the first day, Krillin had needed that time to adjust to the conditions in the Room, but on the second day they managed to train together. Gohan had to lower his fighting energy to match Krillin's energy, he primarily wanted to improve his techniques and fighting instincts again.

'You keep on beating me.' Gohan said after they had done another round of sparring. 'Even though I'm putting out just as much power as you.'

'You leave too many openings.' Krillin replied. 'You haven't really trained much since Cell have you?'

'I trained with Goten.' Gohan said. 'But he isn't as strong as you are, even as a Super Saiyan. And you respond way faster when I leave an opening. He doesn't have the experience you have.'

'You could've trained with me, or with Piccolo, or with Vegeta.'

'You know, I didn't think I needed to get stronger. I mean, Freeza was supposedly the strongest monster in the universe right? And with me, and Piccolo, and Lazuli, and Vegeta, all way stronger than Freeza was I didn't think there would be anything that'd ever threaten us. Well, maybe Vegeta.'

Krillin was silent for a while.

'It's weird.' Krillin said. 'We've seen that Buu monster do all that in the city, and we're just here for days. I keep on telling myself that it's only minutes out there, but it just feels like we're leaving Marron and Lazuli and the others at the mercy of Buu for all this time, even though it's not really "this time" you know?'

'I had that too the last time I was in here with father, when we were training to fight Cell.' Gohan admitted. 'And to be fair, I still feel the same now.'

'Worried about Goten?'

'Not just Goten. Also my mother, my grandfather, Videl, Erasa, Bulma, and everyone else.'

'Videl's out there with Lazuli, she'll be fine. Plus she seems pretty tough herself. And your mom and Bulma are with Tenshinhan and Trunks.'

'None of them are strong enough to defeat Dabura if he shows up though, and that's not even talking about Buu.' Gohan said, admitting his fears. 'And Goten and Erasa are still in the Demon Realm.'

'Goten's pretty strong though.' Krillin said, trying to cheer him up. 'I saw him fight in the Junior Division. Those red monsters we fought are way weaker, I reckon he can beat them even without going Super Saiyan. You can't lose hope.'

'I know.' Gohan said. 'And I'm not. But they didn't deserve that. Erasa isn't even a fighter. And Goten's just six, he's too young to be experiencing such danger.'

'You were even younger when you fought alongside us remember?'

'Doesn't make it right. Besides, I even ran away.'

'And you came back and if I remember correctly you put up a hell of a good fight against Vegeta while your dad handed me the energy for the Genki-Dama.' Krillin corrected. 'And you even bounced it back when I missed. Thanks to you we actually hit him. To think I told you we shouldn't go back, that your dad would take care of it. We would've all been goners if you'd actually listened to me.'

Gohan laughed as he remembered. And he had to admit Krillin was right. Gohan started to understand more of what Master Korin had meant in his lesson.

* * *

Four days had passed in the Room of Spirit and Time. Gohan and Krillin had found themselves a good training structure: seven hours of sparring each day to practice Gohan's fighting instincts and tactics, and seven more hours during which Gohan trained on his own to elevate his strength, ki output, and speed. Krillin could not train for more than seven hours. Sparring at his fighting limits drained him in this gravity. Instead, he took care of chores and food preparation while Gohan trained on his own.

'You're really getting better Gohan.' Krillin panted after another sparring round.

'You're getting stronger too.' Gohan replied. 'Gravity training is amazing to improve your strength isn't it?'

'It's also really heavy.' Krillin said. 'It reminds me of when I started training with your dad under Master Roshi and we had to train with heavy turtle shells on our backs. Only now it's not that we're wearing something heavy, it's our bodies that are heavy. I can't believe you can keep up your training for fourteen hours a day in this gravity. You Saiyans are absolutely ridiculous.'

'When I trained here with father we had days where we went on for twenty hours straight.' Gohan admitted.

'It's just not fair.' Krillin blurted out. 'You Saiyans have a genetic advantage, how are we supposed to keep up with that?'

'I don't know. We agreed not to go Super Saiyan at the Tournament to keep things fair.'

'You just wanted that to keep your Goldfighter disguise a secret didn't you?'

Gohan laughed nervously.

'That's true. But then Goten and Trunks decided to go Super Saiyan anyway in the Junior Division, so Videl and Erasa immediately figured it out.'

'Little kids never listen when they have to do they?' Krillin sniggered.

* * *

By the end of the fifth day of training Gohan had improved so much he could keep up with Krillin in their sparring matches without using more power.

'Hey Gohan, I was wondering, what did Master Korin say about your power? Was he able to help you?'

Gohan told Krillin what Master Korin had said about his power, and how he needed determination.

'So it's determination, and not anger.' Krillin said. 'I guess that makes sense. So, can you summon your full power at will now?'

'I'm not really sure.'

Gohan transformed and powered up again, concentrating to try and maximise his power output.

'You're stronger than when we started here Gohan, but it's nowhere near what you had when you fought Dabura or Cell.' Krillin said.

'I still can't really grasp it.' Gohan said frustrated. What could he do? He couldn't rely on his power like this.

'Why don't you try imagining it?' Krillin suggested. 'Didn't Master Korin say you need determination? Remember what Buu did to all those people in the city? Try to imagine you're up against that monster, and you _have_ to step in and stop it.'

Gohan tried to imagine it. He closed his eyes and pretended to stare down at the pink monster that was Majin Buu. In the background, he saw the ruins of what was once West City. Buu laughed.

'That's what I'm gonna do to everything in this entire world!' Buu cackled maniacally, with a voice reminding Gohan of Freeza and Cell. Buu casually fired another ki attack behind it which caused an enormous explosion, completely disintegrating the remains of the city.

'NO!' Gohan screamed. 'Please don't!'

But Majin Buu didn't listen. It just flew off into the distance laughing. Gohan tried to chase it as fast as he could, but could barely keep up. Gohan then recognised the area they were flying over: they were suddenly above the forest near their house.

'NO!' Gohan screamed again. 'I SAID DON'T!'

Buu still didn't stop flying in the direction of their house. A new sense of urgency and purpose filled Gohan. If he didn't stop Buu now…! He felt new power surging through his body. Ridiculous power he'd never experienced before. And Gohan grabbed Majin Buu by its leg with his left hand, preparing his ki attack with his right. But as he grabbed, Buu's leg suddenly turned gooey and started covering his arm. And in the distance he heard his brother and his mother screaming in panic as they were still flying to them. And then they were screaming his name. But it didn't sound like his family. The voice was different.

'GOHAN!'

Slowly the vision faded, and Gohan opened his eyes again. He saw Krillin hovering above Gohan with a concerned look on his face, and Gohan felt his power drain quickly, turning back to his regular form.

'Are you okay?'

Gohan was exhausted. Sweat soaked his face and he was panting heavily. The fantasy had seemed so real to him, he'd completely forgotten where he was, but slowly reality was coming back to him. He was in the Room of Spirit and Time. Only Krillin was there with him. His mother was still out there flying with Bulma and the others searching for the Dragon Balls, and Goten was stuck in the Demon Realm with Erasa. They weren't being hunted by Buu directly, although Goten's situation was hardly better.

'I'm okay.' Gohan said.

'For a moment you had insane power there.' Krillin said encouragingly. 'Like, much more than I ever felt, even when you fought Cell. You did it!'

Gohan shook his head. He'd still messed up in his fantasy, he'd lost his arm.

'But I still had no control. I need to make it easier to access that power, and keep my sanity.'

Krillin seemed to be deep in thought.

'That's a difficult one.' Krillin rambled. 'You've got to find a way to find that determination inside yourself before the situation becomes so dire your primal instincts take over.'

'I still don't get why it's so difficult for me.'

'The way you told me Master Korin explained your power, I feel like you need to be really sure that it's necessary before you're willing to access that power.' Krillin said. 'It's almost as if you're a bit scared of your own power, as if there's some fear that's subconsciously blocking you from accessing it.'

Gohan thought about it.

'I guess that makes sense.' Gohan said after a few moments. 'I mean, the prospect of potentially losing any kind of sanity or judgement while having unstoppable power that could destroy everything I care about, that's really scary if you think about it.'

Krillin thought for a few moments.

'I get that. But you've gotta trust yourself Gohan.' Krillin said. 'I know that even when you're accessing that power you're still you in there. You've never attacked innocent people or your allies, no matter how angry you were. I still remember when you went wild against Cell, you still recognised all of us. You still saved me from those mini-Cell monsters, and you still took the Senzu back from Cell to give to all of us. That tells me you were still concerned about our safety and well-being.'

Gohan didn't know what to say. He knew Krillin was right. But still, Krillin hadn't experienced it. The way your emotions ran wild when accessing that power, the way you became so focused on only a single goal, without a second thought running through your mind. It was almost as if losing yourself, and your identity, even if only briefly. It wouldn't suddenly stop being scary just because Krillin said it wasn't. Krillin apparently noticed his hesitance from his expression.

'You've gotta stop beating yourself up over what happened with Cell Gohan. You know, I'm not mad over what happened. In fact, if you hadn't delayed killing Cell off I probably would've never ended up with Lazuli, and Marron would never have been born. In a way I'm sort of glad you did. I mean, it's still horrible what happened to Goku, but something good also came of it right?'

Gohan had never realised that. It was indeed Lazuli who had been swallowed whole by the monster earlier, somehow. Gohan still didn't know the specifics, nor did he want to know, he was convinced it was gruesome. And during Gohan's torture of Cell he'd hit Cell so hard in the abdomen the monster had been forced to vomit out Lazuli, and she was still alive after that, somehow. Krillin had taken care of Lazuli during the aftermath while she was unconscious, which was probably the first step towards their relationship.

'I guess you're right. I never thought about it like that.'

'Hey, I've got an idea.'

Gohan looked at Krillin.

'Remember when you were constantly Super Saiyan when you first did it to get used to it?' Krillin said. 'I remember you telling me about it before the Cell Games. Why don't we try something similar?'

'I'm not sure what you mean.'

'We've still got a couple of days left. You'll do the same thing again as you just did, go up to that power. And you'll do it just as many times as you need until you can control it, and you get a bit more used to it. I mean, if you do it over and over again and you get used to it maybe it'll become less scary. I think once you conquer that fear it might be easier to access that power too.'

Gohan felt hesitant. He wasn't sure why, he felt himself searching his mind for excuses not to go along with Krillin's idea. Maybe it was just the fact that having to experience such horrible things, even in his fantasy, just to trigger his power was deeply uninviting.

'I just, I'm scared of those things I've got to imagine to access that power.' Gohan admitted. 'And it felt so real Krillin. I really believed Buu was going to kill Goten.'

'Then let's train together and not make any of that real. Like, really real I mean.' Krillin said with authority. 'It'll be tough, but I'll help you get through this. I promise.'

'You're right.' Gohan said. 'I'm through being scared. My father wouldn't give up even if he was scared, and neither will I.'

* * *

 **[Author's note: A bit of a shorter chapter than most, but I still wanted to add it to show what Krillin and Gohan have been up to. We're closing in on the finale of the story arc now. I know I have been slowing down a bit lately, I've been struggling with the segments after this one, primarily with the chapter structure with the plotlines of Erasa and Videl. My aim is to finish the entire story arc before Christmas. Next chapter will reveal what Dabura's ordeal is, as well as what is going on with Majin Buu. I hope you all enjoy the story so far, don't forget to review.]**


	39. Dabura's Demands

The tall figure started speaking again with that deep voice that commanded authority.

'Ki-based creatures in this world?'

Erasa didn't know what the figure meant. Ki-based creatures. Was he talking about them?

'Hello mister.' Goten said. 'My name is Son Goten, and Miss Erasa and I got lost here. Could you help us find the way home?'

'I should be purging you right now.' The figure said. 'Ki-based creatures should not come here. But you may prove useful to me.'

'W-Who are you?' Erasa stuttered in fear.

'My name is Dabura. I am the creator of this world, and of these soldiers.' He said, motioning to the red monsters.

Erasa recognised that name, and it only took a few seconds to remember where she'd heard it before.

'So you're the monster that hurt Gohan so badly!' Erasa called out.

'I know whom you're talking about. Incredibly strong. Reminds me of you.' Dabura said, looking at Goten. 'He had the same glow. So you are his accomplices.'

'Gohan's my big brother!' Goten screamed. 'And if you're the one who hurt him you're a big meanie and I hate you!'

Dabura didn't acknowledge Goten's insult, which was probably for the better. If this guy could hurt Gohan that much, Goten probably shouldn't anger him.

'Follow me!' Dabura said. It was not a request, it was an order.

'I'm not gonna listen to big meanies that hurt my big brother!'

'Obey, or get purged right now.' Dabura ordered, and he conjured up a big sword in his right hand from out of nowhere. 'Then you'll never see your big brother again as you'll see just how mean I can be.'

Erasa didn't feel Goten moving at all. She had to act, despite being so terrified her heart was beating at least a zillion times a second.

'Goten, I-I think we should do what he says for now.' Erasa whispered. 'I think he's really strong if he hurt Gohan that much.'

'You're just a big meanie!' Goten screamed. 'We didn't do anything to you!'

'Quite the opposite.' Dabura said. 'You invaded this world, a world where ki-based creatures like you are not allowed, and you injured my soldiers.'

'They tried to hurt us first!' Goten argued.

'They were defending their home, the home _you_ invaded.'

'What world is this world then?' Erasa asked. 'We only got in here by accident!'

'From your perspective, in your language, this world is called the Demon Realm.' Dabura said. 'My lifeforms live here, this is their world, and my world. Ki-based life has no place here.'

Erasa remembered what Kaio-Shin had said, about life from their world and life from the Demon Realm not being allowed to mix. She'd called it racist back then, but it didn't sound like Dabura shared her view on the matter. Erasa could see no way of escaping, they were going to die for having invaded the Demon Realm.

One red monster flew up to Dabura and spat small amounts of fire in his face. Dabura responded similarly, spitting fire in the red monster's face. They continued their exchange of fire for a short while until the monster flew off again. Dabura turned his attention back to Erasa and Goten.

'You are very fortunate.'

Erasa felt everything but fortunate with her fate while Dabura stretched his free arm out to the side and moved it in a circular motion. A gateway similar to the one that they travelled through into this place formed in the wake of Dabura's motion. Was it their world behind it? Could they really travel back?

'In here.' Dabura said.

'Let's go Goten.' Erasa said as she didn't feel Goten obliging.

'But he's a meanie.' Goten argued. 'I don't like him.'

'I don't like him either.' Erasa said. 'But a-as I said, I think we should listen to him.'

Goten obliged and flew through Dabura's gateway. The incredible heat told Erasa that it was not their world on the other side, they were still in the Demon Realm. It was even hotter on this side. Dabura flew through the gateway after them and the gateway vanished again.

Erasa looked around. They were in an enormous room, with walls made out of some black rocky material with fires burning on them. In the middle of the room there was a tall pillar made of the same rocky material which did not stretch all the way to the ceiling. Beneath her she saw a large number of red monsters crawling around, there were hundreds of them! As the monsters they'd seen before, they were of varying sizes and with varying numbers of limbs. About half of them also had wings.

Dabura landed on top of the pillar and looked down. He started spewing fire from his mouth down at the ground, covering all the monsters in fire. Goten quickly flew up to avoid the attack.

'Eww.' Goten said. 'He's puking everywhere!'

Erasa was paralysed with fear, she didn't know what to make of the situation as she saw Dabura opening up several gateways on the ground from his pillar. Erasa couldn't see what was through the gateways, the fire was obscuring her vision. The monsters quickly moved through the gateways, seemingly unharmed by the flames.

'Where are they all going?' Goten asked. 'I bet they don't like that big guy puking over them.'

'I don't know.' Erasa said quietly. 'Let's follow them? Maybe they go back to our world?'

'Okay.'

Goten descended quickly and tried to go for a gateway. But he then stopped abruptly as a streak of fire passed right in front of him.

'I don't think so.' Dabura said from above. 'You two stay here.'

Goten stuck out his tongue.

'I'm not listening to meanies!' Goten yelled, and he swerved in the other direction going for a different gateway. He suddenly had to stop as Dabura cut them off before they could reach it. Erasa could hardly follow Goten's movements but it looked as if Dabura was much faster. Goten tried one more time but Dabura cut them off a third time. And as she looked beneath her, the last monsters left through the gateways and the gateways disappeared again.

Erasa looked back up at Dabura, who flew back to his pillar and landed on it. She had no idea what he wanted from them. He said they shouldn't be in this world, yet he wasn't letting them leave, nor was he killing them. Dabura picked up a pair of small orange spheres, which apparently had been lying on top of the pillar out of sight, two orange spheres with a golden glow. The Dragon Balls!

'You two!' Dabura said loudly to Goten and Erasa. 'Tell me how to use these weapons!'

'Weapons?' Erasa replied confused, not understanding what Dabura meant.

'Don't play dumb with me!' Dabura barked impatiently. 'When your accomplices found out about the threat of Majin Buu, they started collecting these objects. And I can detect great mystical powers in these objects. Clearly you were planning to use them in an effort to defend yourself from Majin Buu, or even fight Majin Buu. You will tell me how to wield them, or I will purge you right now.'

Erasa was thinking fast. There was no guarantee he wouldn't kill them anyway after they'd told him what he wanted to know. She knew this guy was on Majin Buu's side, he helped resurrect that monster after all. The last thing she knew was that Gohan's dad and Vegeta went off to fight Majin Buu and presumably also Dabura. But if Dabura had been there, how did he find out about the Dragon Balls?

'I'm not gonna trust a meanie like you!' Goten screamed. 'I'm not gonna say anything to a meanie who hurts my big brother!'

Erasa felt invigorated by Goten's resistance.

'Yeah, you're with those monsters that want to destroy our world!' Erasa screamed. 'That Majin Buu monster and that Bobbi-monster!'

'I'm not with them anymore.' Dabura said. 'When I saw what Majin Buu truly was, and read its horrifying mind, I was convinced I could not stay with them anymore and I started resisting Bobbidy's manipulation.'

Erasa wasn't sure whether to believe Dabura. The only hope stemmed from the fact that Dabura hadn't tried to kill them yet. The stories Kaio-Shin had told about Majin Buu were already terrifying enough, but a Majin Buu supported by Dabura with Dragon Balls was even scarier. She had to stall for time to figure out what was really going on.

'H-how did you find out about the Dragon Balls?' Erasa stuttered.

'So that's what these are called?' Dabura said, glancing at the five-star ball he was holding. 'I guess I can tell you, it might convince you to speak. After my fight with your accomplice, I was impressed by his power, very impressed. He wasn't born from the Kaiju tree like I was, yet he surpassed me in power and almost killed me. We were both injured when I noticed his allies showed up and retreated with him. I wanted to learn more about him, I wanted to learn just how a mortal from the lower realms could conjure up such power, and whether or not he might have weapons or otherwise to help him achieve said power. I conjured up a small soldier to follow them while I dealt with Bobbidy and learned about Majin Buu's true nature. Through my soldier I learned that he met up with other allies and they were gathering these "Dragon Balls" as you call them. They knew Majin Buu was back, and they thought it important to gather them quickly. It isn't hard to draw the conclusion. These "Dragon Balls" are undoubtedly the source of the power of your accomplice.'

'Your monster stole them from us!' Goten interrupted angrily. 'They were ours, give them back!'

'And why would I do that?' Dabura said harshly. 'I have read Majin Buu's mind. It only wants to destroy everything, its mind is broken and incomplete. Once Majin Buu is done destroying the Ki Realm, it will come to the Demon Realm to destroy everything here. And I need your weapons to fight it and protect my world! So tell me how to wield them right now!'

* * *

'Kaio-Ken energy?!' Piccolo called out. 'Are you sure?'

'I invented that technique.' North Kai replied annoyed. 'If I say that that is Kaio-Ken energy, it is Kaio-Ken energy.'

'If that monster also learned the Kaio-Ken attack…' Yamcha said.

'I don't think it knows how to use the technique.' North Kai said. 'It doesn't seem like Buu is in control at all, and you need a certain amount of control to even trigger the reaction.'

'So what're you saying?' Kaio-Shin asked.

'I don't know what's going on.' North Kai said. 'But it has that energy somehow.'

'Is it some leftovers from when Goku attacked it with the technique?' Korin suggested.

'No, this energy is more internal to its body. External sources shouldn't linger like this.'

As Videl saw Majin Buu reforming again, and the reddish glow from the explosion slowly fading, the glow reminded her of something.

'Didn't those zombie creeps use the energy they stole from Vegeta and Gohan's dad to revive Majin Buu?' Videl asked.

' _Bobbidy_ used the energy they collected.' Kaio-Shin corrected.

'Yeah, whatever.' Videl dismissed. 'If those bad guys built up Majin Buu with that energy, I mean, wasn't Gohan's dad using the Kaio-Ken attack when those zombie creeps attacked?'

'Yes he was! And those goons must've collected the Kaio-Ken energy that Goku was using, and built up Buu's body with it!' Yamcha exclaimed, explaining Videl's thoughts much better than she'd done.

'Is that even possible?' Tenshinhan asked. 'Building up a body with that kind of energy?'

'It shouldn't be.' North Kai said. 'The energy is too violent and destructive, it can't replace regular ki that you need to stay alive. It'd just destroy the entire body.'

'But what if the energy is only a portion, it's not all the ki?' Kaio-Shin said. 'Majin Buu also had that portion of regular ki from Vegeta, not to mention its demonic half. And Majin Buu has its regeneration ability.'

'I don't know.' North Kai said. 'I'd say it's unsustainable and impossible, but I've got no idea how Kaio-Ken energy interacts with demonic energy, and Buu's regeneration is insane as well. It also depends on how intensely Goku used the Kaio-Ken attack. Perhaps it's simply a question of what wins, the destruction caused by Kaio-Ken energy, or the regeneration ability.'

'Now that I think about it, Buu was not acting like this when it was just resurrected, when I retreated with Gohan and Krillin it still seemed stable.' Tenshinhan said.

'I think it's the combination.' Korin said. 'The energy was already inside of it, but Buu could contain it. Then receiving those powerful attacks back-to-back from Vegeta and Goku, maybe that triggered some reaction on the energy already present, or released it somehow. Or maybe it spent so much of its attention regenerating its body after those attacks it couldn't focus on containing the Kaio-Ken energy anymore.'

'So what does that mean?' Videl asked. 'If we keep on hitting it really hard it'll start suffering more from that Kaio-Ken energy until its regeneration can't keep up anymore and it destroys itself?'

'I think we're already at that point where its regeneration is starting to lose.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Buu dissolved all those people, and even dissolved Bobbidy. If the idea that Majin Buu is fighting Kaio-Ken energy inside its own body is accurate, it might be using those bodies as fuel to sacrifice to the attack instead of its own body. If it gets more desperate it will start dissolving more and more people, eventually sacrificing the entire universe just to stay alive.'

'Doesn't the Kaio-Ken destroy matter to create energy?' Videl asked. 'What'd it do with all the energy it creates?'

'It expels it.' Kaio-Shin said. 'Majin Buu has been continually expelling large amounts of energy seemingly without control. As terrifying as it is to say, in this state Majin Buu is even more dangerous than normal.'

Videl thought about how Gohan described the Kaio-Ken attack as a nuclear technique, and how dangerous it was. It was a horrible destiny. Eternally suffering from an energy in your body that'd constantly attack you and try to eradicate your existence. The pink monster would be easy to pity, if not for the fact that Videl just saw it eradicate an entire city.

'We've got to stop that monster somehow.' Videl decided. 'Surely that Kaio-Ken stuff must be a weakness to it right?'

Videl then heard strange sounds behind her. As she turned around she saw several gateways appearing close to the ground on the lookout, seemingly from out of nowhere.

'It's those monsters again!' Tenshinhan exclaimed.

Videl, still with her mind on Majin Buu, was almost hit by a red monster leaping out of one of the gateways spraying fire from its mouth. As she looked around she saw Yamcha had grabbed her and jumped out of the way into the sky.

'Are you okay?' Yamcha asked.

'I'm fine.' Videl said quietly. 'Thanks.'

Videl then heard a loud yell coming from the ground. The sound startled Yamcha and he dropped Videl in the sky as he hurried towards the shrieking Bulma. Videl managed to stay afloat and looked down. More and more red monsters were coming out of the gateways, there must be dozens of them, if not hundreds, and most of the others down there started fighting. Videl remembered that these monsters were the cause of Erasa disappearing and she rapidly descended to join the fight. Videl attacked a monster from behind and kicked it in the neck, knocking it away into one of the pillars surrounding the lookout.

Videl then heard something behind her and quickly ascended, barely dodging another monster spitting its fire towards her. The intensity of the heat was immense, but she couldn't let that bother her as adrenaline coursed through her veins. She flew up over the monster and kicked it hard in the neck, descending from above. Having seen her surroundings from above, Videl quickly pivoted her hand on the ground and threw a rapid rolling kick around, hitting several more monsters simultaneously. She then quickly flew into the sky as she heard another monster using its fire spit in her direction. Videl charged up a ki attack and threw it down at the monster that attacked her, but it saw the attack coming and countered with another fire breath attack which appeared to swallow up her blast. Videl swerved out of the way as fast as she could and threw another monster that had been lunging at her from the side down to the ground, hitting the earlier monster's head. That was close!

'That doesn't work!' Tenshinhan screamed at her as he kicked the two monsters so hard from above their organs splattered everywhere. 'Their fire absorbs ki attacks and only becomes stronger!'

Videl, distracted by watching Tenshinhan, suddenly felt something striking her from behind. A sharp pain cutting through her abdomen. She'd never felt pain like this before, not even close. Videl was a proud girl who never cried, but that pride diminished immediately in the extraordinary pain, she'd never imagined it was possible for something to hurt that much. She screamed louder than anyone had ever screamed before, surely her father must be able to hear her all the way on the other side of the planet. She looked down, having to see what was going on. A red limb had pierced her torso from the back, Videl could see the end of it sticking out on the front side, and large amounts of her own blood pouring into her gi. Videl felt her own ki decreasing rapidly and lost the concentration to control it in her pain, and only a single thought pierced her mind.

 _FUCK!_


	40. Gohan's Return

**[Author's note: It's been way too long since I updated this, and I sincerely apologise for taking almost four months since my last update. This hasn't been an easy chapter to write, with Gohan's, Erasa's, and Videl's scenes happening roughly simultaneously. And I've been suffering from severe procrastination. I know it's hardly an excuse, but I don't have a better explanation. I hope I'll be able to update a lot faster from now on again. Please let me know what you think by submitting reviews, I haven't received a single review about the previous three chapters of this story (the one from Mar1992 doesn't count, it's spam and unrelated to the story). With all that said and done, please enjoy the story.]**

* * *

Despite Videl's shoulder crashing hard on the hard floor of the lookout, she barely felt her earlier shoulder injury again as the extreme pain from her stomach area dominated everything. She looked up at the monster that had attacked her from behind. It was winged and had four glowing orange eyes which were glaring at her. One of its six limbs was covered in her blood. Videl couldn't move anymore, all she could do was feel more and more pain, screaming until she completely ran out of breath. As she quieted down, Videl heard someone else screaming.

'VIDEL!'

Chi-Chi had appeared and kicked the monster so hard her foot went straight through the monster's head, obliterating it. And she wasn't done yet. Chi-Chi was furiously destroying monster after monster in a violent manner.

'THIS IS FOR MY BABY BOY!' Chi-Chi screamed in a frenzy, as she destroyed four more monsters in a single attack. 'AND THIS IS FOR THE FUTURE MOTHER OF MY GRANDCHILDREN!' Chi-Chi annihilated three more in another attack. Monster body parts and organs splattered everywhere as Videl vaguely saw Chi-Chi leaving a trail of absolute brutal horror and death in her slaughtering path through the monsters.

As Videl struggled to remain conscious, Dende appeared over her, and held his four-fingered hands open above her body. Dende was God right? That meant it was probably time to die…

'Hold still.' Dende said, and his body started glowing. And Videl started to see more clearly again. The excruciating pain quickly decreased. If she was going to the afterlife, it looked exactly like the place she just left. Before long the pain was gone. Even the small pain she'd still felt occasionally in her left foot from her fight with Gohan was gone.

'Am I dead now?' Videl asked Dende softly, not believing he could ever hear her over the noise from the war surrounding them, more monster body parts flying over both of them.

'No, I healed you.' Dende replied. 'But that was pretty close, you lost so much blood.'

Videl touched her abdomen, feeling that the hole was gone, it was completely healed. There was still a hole in her gi which was now soaked in blood. She quickly regained her senses, stood up, and looked around. There weren't many monsters left. Master Roshi, Gohan's mom, Lazuli, Tenshinhan, Trunks, and Gohan's grandfather had destroyed most monsters, although it looked like Gohan's grandfather was also injured.

The remaining monsters fled through the one gateway that was still there. This was their chance! Videl quickly gave chase. Erasa was somewhere through those gateways, she had to save her! But one of the monsters released its firebreath behind itself as it exited, igniting the ground surrounding the gateway in an intense fire. Videl didn't care, she tried to pass through anyway, but the heat was so intense to the touch her body recoiled and she burned her body badly. But she'd have to do it! Videl looked at the gateway again through the flames, but saw it shrinking and disappearing. She was too late.

* * *

Erasa wasn't sure what to think anymore. Was Dabura right? Was the reason Gohan was so incredibly strong because of the Dragon Balls? Had he summoned a magical dragon and wished for that strength? And more importantly, was Dabura telling the truth? Had he really rebelled against Bobbidy and Majin Buu? Or was it a scam to try and gain more power for Majin Buu?

'H-How do we k-know we can trust you?' Erasa stuttered.

'I'd rather concern yourself with what happens if you don't speak.' Dabura replied harshly.

'B-But I-I don't know how to use them.' Erasa admitted.

Dabura glared at them.

'Well then I guess you two are no use to me.'

He gripped the sword tightly in his hand and pointed it at Goten and Erasa.

'You're just a big meanie! Give the Dragon Balls back!' Goten screamed.

'Why would you want them if you don't know how to use them?' Dabura asked sceptically. 'I think you're lying to me.'

Erasa stared frightened at the sword Dabura was holding.

'Goten, please stop making him angry!' Erasa whispered.

'Why?' Goten retaliated. 'He's not nice to us either! He's mean!'

'Because I'm the grown-up here!' Erasa hissed. 'And because he's very dangerous. You can't beat him if Gohan couldn't beat him. Isn't Gohan stronger than you?'

'I've got enough of this.' Dabura said threateningly. 'Speak now, or die.'

'WAIT!' Erasa shrieked in desperation. 'I don't know how to use them, but our friends know how to use them!'

'Well then you'd better hope they're still alive.'

'W-what do you mean?'

'The army I just sent off was sent to your accomplices.' Dabura said. 'They gathered more of these "Dragon Balls" and I sent my army to retrieve them.'

'My big brother can easily beat way more monsters than that on his own!' Goten screamed.

'I know, but your big brother was not among them.' Dabura said. 'I specifically ordered this attack, as well as my first attack, to strike at moments while he was away.'

Erasa remembered. That first red monster had attacked them the first time they stopped after Gohan had left with Videl to find this old Master for help.

Dabura opened a gateway beneath them, and a handful of red monsters quickly entered through it. The gateway closed immediately after they entered. Some of the red monsters were injured. Dabura descended and breathed fire on them. One of the monsters launched its firebreath back at Dabura, and the exchange continued for a short while.

'Miss Erasa?' Goten said. 'Why are they puking on each other?'

'I don't know.' Erasa replied. 'Maybe it's their way of talking to each other?'

'Why don't they just talk like we do?'

'Maybe they can't.'

'Miss Erasa?' Goten said again. 'I'm thirsty.'

Erasa thought for a moment. They didn't have much supplies left. But it looked like Dabura would either kill them soon or they'd manage to escape to their world soon, and she was also really thirsty.

'Me too. Let's land and have a drink.'

'Yay!'

Goten quickly landed them both on the opposite side of the room from where the monsters were with Dabura, and Erasa uncapsuled her bag.

'Here you go Goten.' Erasa offered him some water.

'Thank you Miss Erasa.' Goten said and bowed, before quickly gulping up the water.

Erasa studied Dabura for a moment, who was still interacting with the red monsters. He didn't seem to hold the Dragon Balls anymore. Did he leave them on top of the pillar? Erasa looked up, but she couldn't see from down here.

'Hey Goten.' Erasa whispered. 'I think he might have left the Dragon Balls up there. You think you can sneak up there and grab them while he's distracted?'

A mischievous smirk appeared on Goten's face.

'Okay.'

Goten silently flew up the pillar and quickly grabbed the two Dragon Balls, before quickly joining Erasa again.

'Here they are Miss Erasa.' Goten whispered, as he handed the Dragon Balls back to Erasa. They didn't feel hot at all for some reason.

'You're great Goten.' Erasa whispered back, and she quickly hid the Dragon Balls in her pocket.

Dabura took his attention back to Erasa and Goten, a fierce look on his face.

'It seems like your other accomplices are stronger than I anticipated. So I'll go there to take matters into my own hands while your big brother is not there. You two will stay here.'

With that, Dabura opened up a gateway again, enveloped it with fire, and passed through. There was no chance for Goten and Erasa to follow him.

* * *

Videl looked back around, only now starting to feel the effects of her burns, and she groaned in agony. The remainders of the monsters' body parts were scattered and in a lot of cases burning. Videl saw Dende heal Gohan's grandfather. Chi-Chi's clothes were covered in black burn marks and she was panting, still with that look of murderous intent on her face that made even Videl both jealous and unnerved. Bulma was slowly being put down by Yamcha. Tenshinhan, Master Roshi, and Lazuli seemed okay although a little tense. Trunks was looking at Bulma and trying to see if she was hurt. But someone was missing, and Videl wasn't sure who it was.

Videl then remembered their plan. The plan to lure those monsters out and rescue Goten and Erasa had totally failed. And suddenly Videl remembered that it was Korin who was missing. Had he gone through the gateway to the Demon Realm?

'Here, let me take care of that.' Dende said as he approached her, and he healed her burns.

'Thank you.' Videl said sincerely. 'For healing me. Twice. I've been beat up a lot but I've never met someone who could patch me up as fast as you.'

'It's no problem.' Dende said. 'In times like these we've got to stick together. And you helped Gohan.'

Videl didn't know how she'd supposedly helped Gohan. But there were more pressing matters.

'Where's Korin?' Videl asked. 'Is he…?'

'Master Korin…' Dende corrected, 'went to the Room of Spirit and Time to get Gohan and Krillin.'

That gave Videl some hope again. The idea of having Gohan around felt good somehow, although she didn't know why.

'Bulma.' Tenshinhan asked. 'Do we still have the Dragon Balls?'

Bulma still seemed to be a bit in shock over the display of war she'd just witnessed and didn't seem to have heard Tenshinhan.

'Ehh… Bulma.' Yamcha said, slightly poking the blue-haired woman.

'Sorry, what?'

'Do we still have the five Dragon Balls we collected?'

'Oh, uhh, yeah, we do.' Bulma said distracted. 'I left them in the airplane, in here.'

Bulma pulled out a capsule from her pocket, and seemed to regain her senses a bit.

'I wasn't going to let the same thing happen again.'

* * *

Gohan shook awake from his bed. It was the night between the seventh and eighth day in the Room of Spirit and Time, or at least what the clocks told them was night.

Gohan looked back at his bed, or rather, at the place where his bed used to be. The only thing left were small fragments of wood, cotton, silk, and some plushy material Gohan didn't know the name of, scattered in the room. Apparently he had powered up in his sleep and destroyed the bed.

What if all the events from his nightmares were already real outside of the Room, and there was nothing they could do about it? Perhaps Majin Buu had already blown up the Earth along with the five Dragon Balls that were still there, as well as everyone else, and there was no way of getting anything back.

No! Thinking like that wouldn't help at all. Gohan left his bedroom and walked out into the open void. He remembered his father, and how he never seemed to be scared of anything. Even when his father took Cell and teleported him away, knowing he was about to die, his face still hadn't shown the slightest hint of fear.

'Why can't I be as carefree as you?' Gohan whispered. 'Am I just not cut out to be a hero?'

 _Goku took Gohan's shoulder and together they vanished into thin air._

' _See ya later!' Gohan quickly waved to Master Korin and Yajirobe as he disappeared. The next moment Gohan and his father stood outside Kame House._

' _Let's grab mom and go home.' Goku said carefree. 'We can rest better there. We'll rest three days, train three days, and rest another three. Then it'll be time to fight.'_

' _Dad, is that really enough?' Gohan asked sceptically. 'Can we win?'_

 _Goku simply waved off his concerns. 'Don't worry about it. C'mon, let's get your mom.'_

…

 _Goku and Gohan stood at the edge of a lake, while Chi-Chi was laying down their picnic blanket and setting up._

' _Look at the size of the fish in this lake!' Goku said eagerly, his voice filled with hunger. But Gohan was concerned, they only had a week left until Cell's horrific Tournament, the Cell Games._

' _Dad… are you sure we should be relaxing like this?'_

' _Don't you worry about a thing!' Goku waved off cheerfully. 'We'll probably be fine.'_

' _P-probably?'_

' _Take it easy! We're fine!' Goku said simply. 'Like I told ya, there's no point in pushing any further. We've taken our bodies as far as they can go.'_

 _At that point Chi-Chi interrupted them._

' _Hey you two!' Chi-Chi called out. 'The picnic's ready!'_

' _Hooray!' Goku cheered out, and he then addressed Gohan again. 'Come on Gohan! Forget what's comin' up and have a good time!'_

Maybe his father had been the odd one out. Regardless, Gohan wished he could have more of his father's simple and carefree reasoning. Gohan was then disturbed by a voice.

'Gohan? Are you alright?'

Gohan turned around.

'Oh hey Krillin. I'm fine.'

'Don't give me that.' Krillin said strictly. 'I saw what's left of your bed.'

'It was just a nightmare.' Gohan dismissed, causing Krillin to stare at him sceptically.

'I guess you'd better not have nightmares once you settle down with a girl then.' Krillin said simply, causing Gohan to turn red.

At that point Gohan suddenly sensed another ki from behind them. Someone had opened the door to the Room. Gohan and Krillin quickly hurried to the door and found Master Korin lying there struggling with the gravity. They quickly helped him up.

'Damn guys, how do you survive in this gravity?' Master Korin struggled.

'Well, it took me a day or so too to get used to it.' Krillin replied. 'But what's going on?'

'We got attacked.' Master Korin started, and Gohan felt as if the gravity suddenly was another hundred times stronger. 'By those red monsters. We could use your backup.'

'Let's go!' Gohan said immediately, and Krillin nodded. They quickly carried Master Korin out of the Room of Spirit and Time and back on the lookout. As soon as Krillin exited he suddenly sped up and crashed through the wall opposing the door. Gohan managed to keep himself under control as the gravity suddenly shifted back to normal, and tried to sense the others. It appeared everyone was still there, and the three quickly made it back outside to the others.

Gohan looked around and saw several body parts scattered around, none of them appearing human, a portion of them burning. He also saw his mother with burn marks on her clothes and a murderous look in her eyes, he saw Bulma, he saw his grandfather, he saw Videl talking with Dende, and he noticed there was a big hole in Videl's gi around her stomach area, and it was covered in blood, but there appeared to be no more red monsters alive at all. What had happened here? Gohan quickly rushed to his mother.

'Mother!'

'Gohan!'

Chi-Chi rushed towards Gohan and embraced him tightly.

'Are you okay?' Gohan asked concerned. 'Your clothes…'

'Oh, I'm fine Gohan.' Chi-Chi dismissed. 'I just gave those nasty monsters what they deserved after what they did to Goten and to Vi… uhmm… grandpa.'

Gohan didn't miss what Chi-Chi had almost said.

'To Videl?!' Gohan exclaimed. 'What did they do to her?'

'I'm fine Gohan.' Videl said as she joined them with Dende, before lowering her tone. 'But… they protected those gateways too well. I couldn't get in there to find Erasa… and your brother.'

'No you're not fine!' Gohan protested. 'Look at your gi, what happened to you?'

'You're one to talk Gohan.' Videl retaliated, glancing at Gohan's Great Saiyaman outfit. It was even more worn out than when he entered the Room of Spirit and Time.

'Videl got hmmphh…' Dende started, but Videl quickly responded and covered his mouth with her hands.

'I said I'm fine Gohan.' Videl dismissed harshly. 'Now, how did your training go?'

Gohan wondered what had happened to Videl. Gohan might be clueless, but even he realised that something had happened and Videl didn't want to talk about it. Sensing her ki, Gohan concluded she was indeed fine, at least physically.

'I'm quite a bit stronger now.' Gohan said while Videl released Dende. 'But I still can't really control my power fully. I need much more time to really get that down.'

'Changing the mind is never easy or fast.' Master Korin said while smacking Videl on the head for how she treated Dende. 'I can sense you've tried hard. Maybe you've pushed it too hard in there, I'm not sure. We don't want to traumatise you forever.'

Gohan didn't want to consider that. Since he had started imagining horrible scenarios to try and unleash his strength his mind had been filled with more and more horrible scenarios and the last two nights had been filled with nightmares.

'It'd all be worth it if it means saving everyone from Buu.' Gohan dismissed. 'So what happened out here in the meantime?'

Tenshinhan joined them and started to explain.

'Well, Bobbidy was killed by Buu.' Tenshinhan said. 'And we noticed that Majin Buu was expelling Kaio-Ken energy.'

'What?!' Gohan exclaimed. 'But how could it know such a technique?!'

'We were wondering that as well when Videl remembered that Goku was using it when those goons attacked him and Vegeta at the Tournament. We think they might have taken Goku's Kaio-Ken energy and built up Buu's body with it.'

Gohan could barely believe it. As far as he knew Kaio-Ken energy was so dangerous his father had only managed to learn it while he was already dead and in the afterlife, unable to die again. How could this monster use such energy as a building block to itself? But more importantly…

'That's right Gohan!' Videl said proudly, interrupting his thoughts. 'I think it could be a weakness of that monster, what do you think?'

'I don't know. Maybe, but I don't know how we could take advantage of it though.' Gohan replied. 'What has Buu been up to while we were gone?'

'It completely eradicated West City.' Dende said while carefully eyeing Videl. 'But then we got attacked by those red monsters so we got distracted. I'll take a look what it's doing now.'

Dende quickly moved to the edge of the lookout and looked down.

'It's above the desert to the east of West City.' Dende said. 'Still completely out of control, but there's nobody living there.'

Gohan quickly placed his hand back on Dende's shoulder and saw he was right. Majin Buu looked smaller than Gohan remembered it to be, but it was still expelling large amounts of energy in random directions.

'So the reason it's expelling all that energy is because of that Kaio-Ken energy?' Gohan asked in confirmation.

'That's what we believe yes.' Dende said. 'We think the energy might be attacking its body, and while it can somewhat compensate the damage with its regeneration ability it has to constantly expel the produced energy.'

Gohan considered this. Videl thought this could be a weakness of the monster, but before Gohan could think of a way to exploit that weakness he was interrupted.

'Uhh guys.' The voice of Yamcha said shaking behind them. 'I think we've got company.'

Gohan and Dende turned around, and Gohan immediately saw it. A circular gateway appearing in the sky, exactly the same as the one Dabura had used to kill Piccolo. Gohan transformed immediately into his Super Saiyan form.

'Stay back Dende.' Gohan said, as he watched the gateway open and a tall figure exiting through it. Dabura, the one responsible for Piccolo's death, had returned.

Flaring up his golden aura, Gohan jumped into the sky towards Dabura, keeping his eyes focused on his enemy. Gohan didn't know what he was going to do, but he knew that he wouldn't allow Dabura to harm any more of his friends. He stopped on the same altitude as Dabura was floating; far enough away not to be caught by surprise by an attack, but close enough to interfere if Dabura would go for his friends instead.

'You are here.' Dabura stated. Gohan did not respond, trying to contain his emotions at seeing Piccolo's murderer again.

'I did not expect you to be here.' Dabura stated, a hint of irritation in his voice. 'I was informed you were… absent.'

'Why are you here?' Gohan asked harshly.

'I am here to learn how to wield the weapons you call "Dragon Balls".'

Gohan was thrown off-guard by Dabura's statement, but quickly put his guard back up. What was he talking about? A few seconds passed in silence.

'Not going to talk?' Dabura grimaced.

'Why should I?' Gohan rebuked.

'Because I have two of your allies captive in my world, or what you would call the "Demon Realm".' Dabura said. Gohan's eyes opened in shock.

'Yes, two of your allies. One looks a lot like you, with that same golden light, only smaller.' Dabura said snidely. 'And the other is taller but weak.'

'What did you do to them?' Gohan asked, anger filling his voice.

'Despite the fact that I have the full right to purge them for invading my world and killing a large number of my soldiers, I haven't done anything to them.' Dabura said. 'They're more valuable to me alive than dead, especially now that you're here.'

'What do you mean?'

'You have something I want, and I have something you want.' Dabura said simply. 'So I suggest a trade. You give me the five remaining Dragon Balls and tell me how to use them, and I will release your two friends back to your world.'

Gohan considered this for a few moments, and he realised he had another factor over Dabura that the MaKaio-Shin conveniently left out of his proposal.

'I don't think so.' Gohan said, pain in his heart for Erasa and especially Goten, but he couldn't trust Dabura. 'I can't risk the Dragon Balls falling in Majin Buu's hands, and I can't trust you.'

Dabura's smirk turned into an angry look.

'So I have a counter-proposal.' Gohan continued. 'You release my friends, and return the two Dragon Balls you stole from this world, and I will let _you_ leave our world alive. How did you say it? I have the full right to purge you for invading my world and killing one of my closest friends.'

* * *

 **[Author's note: We're now seriously approaching the end-game of the story arc. I know that Gohan's flashbacks are straight from the manga, but they illustrate what Gohan is going through. His struggle to fill the heroic void that his father left, and finding his own way to do so is not easy for him. Although whether or not Goku was actually heroic or not is up for debate, and although he definitely has his character flaws, Gohan very much sees his father as someone to look up to.**

 **Something else entirely. I wrote a small scene, completely separate from this story, and uploaded it on here. It's called Pan's First Flight, and you should be able to find it through my profile. For those of you who might want a break from this 'end of the world' kind of story and just want a sweet Gohan-Videl-Pan family moment, check it out, it's about 1,600 words long so shouldn't take too long to read.**

 **Shameless self-plugging out of the way, please do leave your (relevant) reviews to this story. I know people are reading it, I can see that through the traffic stats, but I can't read my readers' minds as to what they think about it. It'd be much appreciated.**

 **Merry Christmas!]**


	41. Rematch with Dabura

**[Author's note: Yay, I managed to update within one month. That's much better than my previous chapter. I hope you all had some nice holidays and New Year's celebrations. You may notice I updated the summary of the story. I hope this new summary gives a bit more intrigue and a bit more of a hook for people to click on the story without spoiling anything.]**

* * *

A part of Gohan wanted Dabura to refuse his proposal. Gohan was struggling to contain his anger at seeing Piccolo's murderer here, but he had to. Gohan knew he needed Dabura if he ever wanted to see Goten and Erasa again, and if that meant letting Dabura go then so be it. Gohan refused to fall into the same trap he did against Cell, the safety of his family and friends was more important than Dabura's fate.

'You dare talk to me that way?' Dabura said hatefully after a few moments.

'I have to.' Gohan replied.

'So I was correct. The Dragon Balls are incredibly powerful, considering you are willing to stake your life for them. Well then, considering you are the strongest among you, I'll just have to see how much more cooperative your allies will be once they've witnessed your death at my hands.'

'Just as a warning, I'm stronger than I was before.' Gohan said. 'Considering how our last battle went, I'll give you a chance to reconsider.'

Out of nowhere, Dabura formed a sword in his right hand. Taking that as a cue, Gohan responded immediately. He rushed in with a fast frontal attack and kicked Dabura in his torso. Dabura was knocked back, away from the lookout, but he recovered quickly and aimed his firebreath at the approaching Gohan.

Gohan saw it coming and flew to the right to dodge Dabura's attack. Ramping up his speed, Gohan exerted more ki and attacked Dabura from the left with a right-handed punch aimed to the stomach area. Dabura blocked Gohan's attack with his left hand and tried to attack with his sword. Gohan quickly tapped Dabura's legs from the side, causing him to lose balance and miss his slashing attack, while forming a ki blast with his right hand that was still held by Dabura's left hand. Gohan's attack blasted Dabura, knocking him back a few hundred metres.

Studying his opponent, Gohan noticed Dabura's left hand had been damaged by his blast. Dabura's hand started emitting embers, and as they faded away again his hand was healed. Dabura formed a second sword in his left hand, face dead-serious. Dabura launched his firebreath again, which Gohan quickly dodged by descending underneath it. Gohan then quickly approached Dabura again, staying underneath the flames in an attempt to hide his approach. Gohan used more of his ki to speed up, lightning beginning to flare in his golden aura, and passed underneath Dabura, leaving an afterimage right beneath him.

Gohan tried to attack from behind, but Dabura had also left an afterimage and Gohan passed through Dabura's image. Where was he? Gohan quickly descended and looked around, trying to find Dabura. Gohan suddenly felt heat coming from above and quickly dodged Dabura's slashing attack as the MaKaio-Shin tried to attack from the flames.

As the flames dissipated above them Gohan kept a good eye on Dabura and he placed his hands to his right next to his hip, preparing the Kamehameha wave. As Gohan unleashed his attack Dabura responded with his firebreath. Gohan quickly steered his blast upwards while ascending himself as well. A small portion of his beam made contact with Dabura's firebreath, but the bulk managed to avoid it and Dabura got hit from above.

Dabura was knocked downwards and Gohan quickly followed in pursuit. Gohan noticed Dabura was injured but he still prepared to retaliate with his swords. Gohan picked up speed, swerved around Dabura while sending an after-image on his original trajectory. As Dabura tried to counter Gohan's apparent frontal attack, the real Gohan kicked Dabura hard in the right shoulder. The blow caused Dabura to lose the sword he held in his right hand, and Gohan swiftly caught the sword in the same motion. Dabura tried to immediately attack Gohan with a wide horizontal slash of his left-handed sword, but Gohan saw it coming, ducked underneath, concentrated his strength, and took the opportunity to strike Dabura through his upper left arm with the stolen sword.

* * *

Videl had no idea what was going on. She had seen the tall humanoid appear through that strange gateway similar to the ones that the red monsters had been using, and Gohan and the figure had talked for a little bit. Then they started fighting, but they were so fast Videl had no hope whatsoever of keeping up with the action. She saw Gohan's golden aura flash here and there and could sense his enormous energy, although it moved so fast she couldn't keep up.

'It looks like Gohan has the advantage.' Korin answered her unasked question.

'What is that monster?' Videl asked.

'That's Dabura.' Dende replied, causing Videl to gasp. 'He said he's here to get the five other Dragon Balls, he wants to trade them for the release of Goten and Erasa.'

'That monster!' Videl exclaimed. 'Come on Gohan! Kill that monster for keeping your brother and my best friend hostage!'

'It doesn't seem like Gohan is fighting to kill Dabura.' Korin said. 'He's trying to force Dabura to release Goten and Erasa in exchange for Dabura's life.'

'But that monster doesn't deserve to just walk away after everything he did!' Videl exclaimed.

'Wasn't that your idea though?' Korin remarked. 'Using force to get Dabura to release Goten and Erasa?'

Videl groaned. Why did Korin always have to be right? She tried to ignore her irritation and looked back at Gohan and Dabura fighting, or rather, she tried to look at them. She still couldn't see anything, it was way too fast. Even the fight she'd seen between Vegeta and Goku at the Tournament was nothing like this. How could she ever help out in a fight like this? She didn't know what to say or do anymore, was she really completely useless here?

Videl then heard a sobbing sound behind her and noticed Chi-Chi had joined them, her murderous look replaced with one of despair and worry.

'Are you okay Chi-Chi?' Videl asked.

'I heard what you all said.' Chi-Chi sobbed. 'Are you sure Gohan's okay Korin?'

Korin studied her, deciding on what to say.

'Sure… no, not sure.' Korin eventually said. 'You never know for sure how these battles end, but Gohan definitely has the advantage and is controlling the fight.'

'Hey, I _know_ Gohan's gonna be alright.' Videl said, trying add as much confidence as she could in her statement. 'He trained really hard and I _know_ he loves his brother, he'll do anything to win.'

Videl felt so cheesy when saying that, she could hardly believe she was saying something like that. Winning by the power of love, it sounded as if it came straight out of one of those weird romance movies Erasa always forced Videl to watch.

'I know my Gohan's strong,' Chi-Chi sobbed, 'but I can't help but worry. Goku was also strong when he went off to fight, and he didn't always come back home afterwards. And normally I don't even want Gohan to fight, but I also want to get my Goten back.'

'I'm so sorry Chi-Chi.' Videl said sincerely. She remembered Gohan had mentioned that his father had died twice, the second time against Cell, so he couldn't be wished back anymore. And that was even before Goku's end at the hands of Majin Buu today. Videl couldn't help but feel sympathy for the older woman as she now had to look at her oldest son fight and risk his own life for the sake of his brother and the rest of the world.

Had Gohan died before? Videl didn't know, she had the feeling there was a lot of Gohan's history she didn't know yet. If Gohan had been revived before even the Dragon Balls couldn't bring him back if he lost this.

'I wish I could help Gohan out there, but I can't even follow any of them at all.' Videl spoke in frustration. 'I feel so useless.'

Korin tapped her on the shoulder and moved close to her ears.

'Just to let you know, Gohan hasn't died before.' Korin whispered.

'Thanks for telling me.' Videl whispered back relieved. At least that was something, even though they didn't exactly have all Dragon Balls at this time, two of them were still in the Demon Realm.

* * *

Gohan kept a close eye on his opponent as he sliced off Dabura's left arm in a single cut with Dabura's sword and he quickly flew back to gain some distance.

'Give it up Dabura.' Gohan called out.

 _Good riddance, you cut off Piccolo's arm, now you lose yours!_

No! He couldn't allow himself to make the same mistake as he did against Cell! He couldn't allow his lust for vengeance to control him. He wasn't here to hurt Dabura, he was here to try and make him surrender Goten and Erasa. Hurting Dabura wouldn't bring Piccolo back, nor would it bring back Goten or Erasa.

'My earlier offer still stands.' Gohan said. 'Surrender my friends and the Dragon Balls and I'll let you go.'

Dabura didn't respond. The MaKaio-Shin looked like he was in severe pain, and Gohan observed fire erupting from the place where his arm used to be. Initially chaotic, the fire appeared to gain more order as the seconds passed by, morphing into the shape of a new arm. Then the flames dissipated and underneath them a new arm was generated.

Gohan and Dabura stared at each other for a few moments until Dabura charged in again. Gohan braced himself for Dabura's frontal attack, but Dabura faked out at the last moment and released firebreath in Gohan's direction. Gohan quickly swerved out of the way to dodge Dabura's firebreath and flew around to get to Dabura's rear. Attacking Dabura from behind, Gohan moved straight through Dabura's after-image. Gohan instinctively retreated and quickly looked around, trying to find Dabura. He saw several images of the MaKaio-Shin, but was one of them the real Dabura? Against Krillin he could rely on sensing his opponent's ki to find them, but that didn't work against Dabura. So how to find him? Dabura could easily move at supersonic speeds, so hearing him, smelling him, or feeling the air currents wasn't going to work either. Gohan hated this, he knew he had the advantage in speed and power, but Dabura was still a deadly opponent. One slice of his sword, or getting caught in his fire, and it could be all over.

 _Calm down Gohan, and think! There's got to be a way! Wait! That's it!_

Remembering something, Gohan focused his senses to find his opponent, and went in for the attack. He ignored Dabura's images and blasted the real Dabura with another Kamehameha wave, more powerful this time, and immediately went on the pursuit, releasing a powerful punch to Dabura's abdomen and followed up by attacking from behind. Gohan grabbed Dabura's throat with his left hand and proceeded to kick Dabura repeatedly in the back.

'Give it up Dabura.' Gohan commanded again. 'My earlier offer still stands.'

Gohan noticed Dabura forming a dagger in his right hand. He quickly kicked it out of Dabura's hand. He wasn't going to get caught off-guard like that again.

'What's it going to be?'

Gohan then felt Dabura's throat heat up substantially even through his Saiyaman glove. Feeling what was coming, Gohan released Dabura's throat and simultaneously kicked him in the back with both legs to knock him back and create distance.

 _Oh no!_

Too late, Gohan realised that he knocked Dabura in the direction of the lookout, the latter was flying above the lookout now and released his built up firebreath downwards. He had to stop him! Gohan felt more power surging through his body and accelerated as fast as he could towards Dabura. Feet first, Gohan viciously attacked Dabura in the side of his abdomen, feeling his feet dig into his opponent's body as the MaKaio-Shin released fire in the direction of the palace. Fire Gohan did not know how to stop, his ki would only strengthen it.

As Gohan looked down, he saw the fire dispersing away from the palace and the entire lookout, and as it dissipated he saw a spherical green barrier had been erected around the lookout and Lazuli standing on the palace roof with her hands spread. Lazuli then lifted the barrier and flew up to him.

'What the hell are you doing?!' Lazuli screamed at him. 'Marron is sleeping in there you know! That monster almost killed her! Just finish him off already!'

'I'm sorry.' Gohan said shyly. 'But I need him alive. Goten and Erasa are still in the Demon Realm. I just need to get him to surrender and release them.'

'Whatever, but don't endanger Marron while doing so!'

'I'll do my best, I promise. I really don't want Marron to get hurt either, I swear.' Gohan said apologetically. 'But he's a tricky foe, he could kill me if I'm not careful.'

Lazuli sighed for a moment and calmed down.

'Okay then. By the way, how did you manage to find him?' Lazuli asked curiously. 'He doesn't have ki you can detect does he?'

'His body temperature is very high.' Gohan replied. 'He's radiating a lot of heat, I can feel for that.'

'Ah, clever.'

'How did you disperse his fire?' Gohan asked. 'That fire always seems to simply absorb my energy and strengthen itself.'

'Cyborg trick.' Lazuli said with disdain.

'You think you can keep the lookout safe with that?' Gohan asked.

'As long as you can keep him away.' Lazuli replied. 'The forcefield doesn't work well against physical abuse.'

'I think he's recovered.' Gohan said. 'Alright, this is it.'

He quickly flew off in the direction of Dabura, while Lazuli descended back to the palace roof. Gohan approached Dabura leaving several after-images behind him while trying to attack from the side. As Dabura was distracted by Gohan's images, Gohan managed to hit Dabura with another Kamehameha wave through his abdomen.

Dabura looked back in pain in the direction of Gohan while the hole in his abdomen flared up and regenerated.

'Give it up Dabura.' Gohan said again. 'This fight is futile.'

Dabura didn't seem to want to give up though. He went on for a frontal attack at Gohan, faking out at the last minute, trying to vanish in a sea of fire. However, Gohan was on to him this time and nimbly dodged his fire attack before unleashing a flurry of punches to Dabura's abdomen. Gohan ramped up his ki a bit more and kicked Dabura in the side of his head. Dabura tried to retaliate with a fast swing of a sword, but Gohan grabbed Dabura's wrist to stop his attack.

'You can end this you know.' Gohan said, trying to convince Dabura. 'I don't know how much longer your stamina can keep up.'

To his surprise, Dabura broke into a smile.

'You think I haven't noticed?' Dabura said darkly, his wrist still gripped by Gohan. 'You may be able to beat me in battle, but that doesn't mean anything.'

'What are you talking about?'

'The simple thing is, you can't afford to kill me, while I can afford to kill you. With the Kaio-Shin dead you need me to save your allies and get them back here, because I don't think you'll be able to convince Bobbidy to help you. If you kill me, you'll also kill your only chance to get your allies back.'

Gohan didn't reply. It looked like Dabura was on to him.

'So all I have to do is stall you out until you make a mistake. And once you make that error you die. As I said, you may be able to beat me in battle, but that doesn't mean anything.'

What could Gohan do now? He couldn't force Dabura to release Goten and Erasa, not to mention he also still felt Majin Buu's energy in the distance causing chaos and destruction, and Buu's energy was rising. Stalling this out for long would be bad. What would his father do? Gohan wasn't sure of how his father would proceed, but he knew one thing for sure: Goku wouldn't give up no matter how dire the situation was.

'You're awful.' Gohan said harshly, gripping Dabura's wrist tighter, letting some anger seep through and breaking it. 'But you're not dumb.' Gohan realised. 'So why help out Majin Buu? What do you gain out of it?'

Gohan and Dabura then turned their attention east as Gohan felt Majin Buu's energy rapidly increasing to terrifying proportions. And in the distance he saw a red glow which slowly intensified. What was going on? And then Gohan realised it. Majin Buu had lost control of the Kaio-Ken energy, and the rest of its energy. And Gohan knew that there was no way the planet was going to take this. Majin Buu, still thousands of kilometres away, was destroying Earth, and Gohan was way too far away to stop it.

* * *

 **[Author's note: It may seem a bit like a short battle, but there's only so much one-sided fighting you can write before it starts to drag. Especially a one-on-one fight like this. If it feels like it was cut short, that's also intentional because Buu's attack is supposed to do that, the pink monster isn't going to wait quietly for Gohan to finish his business with Dabura. So it looks like everyone is out of time with Buu blowing up the planet. Am I the most evil writer ever for ending a chapter on cliff-hangers like this? Am I the most evil writer ever for killing off everyone before Gohan even got to fight Majin Buu? Suffice to say, this wasn't the last chapter of this story. So stay tuned.]**


	42. Earth Destroyed

Majin Buu was destroying the Earth.

Gohan didn't want to believe it, but the harsh reality was that it was happening. Freeza had actually destroyed planet Namek when Gohan was a child and he'd barely escaped. Cell had tried it several times but had been stopped by Gohan and his father, although Cell did manage to destroy North Kai's planet. But this time, Gohan couldn't stop this. Everything was over. No Dragon Balls to get them out like on Namek, no teleporting father to save the world either.

'Our fight is off.' Dabura said harshly and in pain, snapping Gohan out of his thoughts.

Gohan noticed he had subconsciously crushed Dabura's wrist entirely. Dabura moved his free hand in a circular motion and formed another gateway in the sky. And a desperate plan, an insane plan, formed in Gohan's mind. As Dabura finished his gateway, Gohan quickly attacked him and knocked him as far away from the gateway as he could. He had to save the others and this was his only opening!

Feeling his full power surging through his body, he sped towards the lookout at top speed and grabbed his mother and grandfather with one hand each, before flying back immediately to the gateway. His family probably didn't even notice what was going on, he was so fast. From the corner of his eye, Gohan saw the others seemed to have caught on. Krillin grabbed Master Roshi and chased him, Yamcha grabbed Bulma and Trunks, and Tenshinhan grabbed Dende and Videl while Master Korin held on to Videl.

As fast as he could, Gohan flew through the gateway Dabura had formed. The others followed behind him in a matter of seconds, and were finally followed by Dabura who quickly sealed the gateway again behind him.

Through the vanishing gateway, Gohan managed to catch a glimpse of the total annihilation they left behind, and Gohan realised that the Earth was gone. Everything was over. There was nothing left to save. He set down his mother and grandfather on the black ground as he felt his power drain again.

'GOHAN! MOM!' A voice screamed behind him, and before Gohan knew it he was hugged by his little brother. 'Me and Miss Erasa looked everywhere for you but we couldn't find you!'

As Gohan looked down at his little brother, he couldn't help tears streaming down his face, not knowing if they were from joy or sadness.

'Goten!' Chi-Chi exclaimed and she immediately pulled Goten into a hug of her own, tears streaming down her face as well.

'Gohan, what's going on?' The Ox-King asked, looking confused at the family reunion. 'What just happened?'

'VIDEL!'

Erasa's scream enveloped everything as Gohan saw Erasa pull a dazed Videl into a tight hug.

'I was so scared!' Erasa cried. 'What happened to you?! You're covered in blood!'

Gohan couldn't help but look away. How could he ruin such a happy moment for them with the message that they'd never be able to go home? He had failed them all, and because of his failure the Earth was now gone. If only he hadn't gone off to waste time training with Krillin and instead went off after Majin Buu, maybe he could've stopped the monster. If only Dabura hadn't shown up to distract them and ruin things.

Gohan looked around. He was in a tall chamber with rocky walls and fires burning at various places on the walls. In the middle of the room there was a tall pillar which did not reach all the way to the ceiling, and he noticed that the temperature was blazing here. He looked at his allies, and noticed Krillin looking around frantically.

'Lazuli!' Krillin cried out. 'Marron!'

And Gohan realised it. Marron had been sleeping inside the palace, Lazuli must have tried to grab her when Majin Buu destroyed the planet while everyone else escaped. But they didn't make it.

' _I'll do my best, I promise. I really don't want Marron to get hurt either, I swear.'_

Gohan couldn't help but hate himself. He had broken his promise to Lazuli, he had failed to protect Marron. And now Marron was dead, just like millions of other innocent children he failed to protect.

'Gohan, what's wrong?' Ox-King asked again. 'Tell us.'

Gohan looked at Dabura again, who seemed to not know how to handle the situation, and a newfound hatred for the MaKaio-Shin formed in Gohan, running through his entire body. All of this, it was all because of him! If Dabura had just stayed in his own world, Majin Buu would've never been revived! Goten and Erasa would never have been trapped!

Gohan powered up and lunged at Dabura, his kick knocking the MaKaio-Shin straight through the wall into the distance. He flew after Dabura, phased in behind him, and punched him through his chest, leaving a gaping hole. Gohan followed with a spinning kick to Dabura's head, feeling his neck break, and the blow knocked Dabura back into the room they were before, crashing into the tall pillar.

Gohan chased after Dabura, picked the MaKaio-Shin up from the rubble, and tossed him back outside at high speed, before preparing his Kamehameha wave.

'GOHAN!'

Gohan fired his Kamehameha wave at Dabura and looked around panting.

'Tell us what's going on Gohan.' Gohan's grandfather said unusually strict, voice laced with worry. His grandfather was never strict on him! Gohan broke out of his rage, and what remained was grief and guilt.

'I failed grandpa!' Gohan cried out. 'I couldn't protect the world, it's all GONE!'

Chi-Chi joined them and hugged Gohan.

'Where are we?' Chi-Chi asked. 'What do you mean it's all gone?'

'It was all I could do!' Gohan cried out. 'When Dabura opened the gateway I knew that was the only way to save you… but everyone else… they're all dead!'

'What do you mean?' Chi-Chi asked again.

'Majin Buu…' Tenshinhan started. 'It destroyed Earth. We just barely managed to escape through the gateway Dabura formed.'

The pain, it was just too much for Gohan. The guilt, the weight of another failure on his conscience, he didn't know how to handle it. And this time it wasn't just his father that was gone, or Piccolo, this time it was the entire planet. Millions of people. Marron was gone. Lazuli was gone. Erasa and Videl joined them as well, worried about Gohan's cries of pain.

'So where are we now?' Chi-Chi asked, not fully grasping the situation.

'T-That Dabura guy, the tall one, h-he said this is the Demon Realm.' Erasa stuttered, before turning to Gohan.

'Is it true Gohan?' Erasa asked terrified. 'Is the Earth gone? Are we all that's left?'

Gohan couldn't get the words out of his mouth, he silently nodded in shame. Erasa proceeded to hug Gohan awkwardly, tears running down her face silently.

A few moments later, maybe a minute or two, Erasa spoke up again.

'Hey Gohan…' Erasa started stuttering. 'D-did you… did you kill that Dabura monster just now?'

'I… I don't know.' Gohan replied hesitantly. 'It's a bit of a blur. I was just so angry.'

Erasa slowly released Gohan and looked at him in concern.

'Because of Piccolo?'

'Not just that.' Gohan said with effort. 'He also took you and Goten here… and he refused to release you… and if he hadn't shown up… I could have… maybe I could have stopped Majin Buu… but Dabura occupied us and then…'

'Well… he didn't exactly take us.' Erasa said hesitantly. 'We kind of just ended up here chasing after that red monster, we just ran in here because we were stupid idiots.'

Gohan looked at Goten again, who was still being hugged by his mother. Goten looked a bit fatigued but still in decent shape.

'Thanks for looking after him.' Gohan said softly. 'Goten can be a handful… and an idiot.'

'He kind of looked after me mostly.' Erasa chuckled through her tears. 'If it weren't for him I'd have died here hours ago. I'm so stupid, needing a little kid to take care of me.'

'You're not stupid.' Videl interrupted, causing Gohan and Erasa to look at her. 'If I didn't have help I'd have been dead as well right now. Without the help of the others I'd have been killed by those red monsters, and I'd have never made it out alive when Buu destroyed the planet.'

'There really is no going home anymore is there?' Erasa asked. 'It's really gone.'

'Yeah.' Gohan said in shame.

'Even my parents? And everyone from school?'

'I'm so sorry Erasa. I failed to protect everyone.'

Erasa didn't reply. Instead she looked down at the ground in defeat, not knowing how to handle the situation.

'Jeez, it's so hot here.' Videl said after a few moments.

'It's been this hot ever since we got here.' Erasa said. 'Goten and I already drank through all of my water supplies.'

Gohan had also felt it. The air was ridiculously dry here, and it was very hot. You'd dehydrate in no time. It was another pang of guilt to Gohan. Not only had he failed to protect millions of lives, he had also condemned all survivors to live in this terrible place.

'Do you know if there's any water to be found here?' Videl asked.

'We've flown around a lot, but didn't find any.' Erasa said disdainfully. 'It's all just the same as here. Fire, rock, ash, and more heat. And red monsters that want to kill you.'

None of them knew what to say to that. Without water they wouldn't survive for long, regardless of how strong they were.

'How the hell did you two survive here?' Videl asked.

'Goten…' Erasa started. 'Goten protected me from those red monsters. He saved me so many times. And I shared my water and my food with him, the stuff I originally brought for lunch.' Erasa chuckled softly. 'If you hadn't paid for my lunch today I'd have eaten my own already back then. In a way you also saved us Videl.'

Videl smirked a bit at that. 'I just don't know how we'll survive without water.'

'What happened to you guys in the meantime?' Erasa asked. 'Did you make it to that old master guy who was gonna help Gohan?'

'He's over there.' Videl said, pointing at Master Korin.

'B-but… he's a cat?' Erasa stuttered.

'Yeah, and he can also talk and is really smart.' Videl said. 'And I think he likes pushing my buttons to get me angry.'

Erasa stared at Master Korin for a few moments.

'After all the crazy shit I've been through today I'll just accept that.' Erasa said eventually. 'So what happened?'

Videl started telling Erasa about everything that'd happened after they met Master Korin. How Goku and Vegeta were defeated by Majin Buu and Bobbidy and died, how Master Korin explained Gohan's power, how she'd met Dende...'

'Wait, wait, wait… hold on.' Erasa interrupted. 'You met God?!'

'He's right over there.' Videl said, pointing at Dende.

'Wow, he's so small. I expected a God to be… bigger. And with those things on his head he looks more like a slug than a God.' Erasa said, before realising she was staring. 'Sorry, go on.'

So, Videl continued her story and told her about Majin Buu destroying West City (although leaving out some of the more gruesome details), how Gohan had gone with Krillin into a weird room where time was different to get stronger, how they'd been attacked by red monsters while on the lookout, and how Dabura had shown up and Gohan fought him before their fight was cut short because of Majin Buu.

'… and the next moment I was being carried by Tenshinhan and brought in here.' Videl concluded.

'Holy shit…' Erasa said quietly after Videl finished. 'I guess I wasn't the only one with a crazy day.'

'You can say that again.'

'We still need to figure out how to survive here.' Gohan said. 'It's going to be tough without water.'

Erasa looked around and glanced at everyone who was there.

'Hey Bulma!' Erasa ran to Bulma, quickly followed by Gohan and Videl.

'Hey there.' Bulma replied. 'Glad to see you're still alive. I wish I could say we came to rescue you, but…'

'Do you have that big airplane with you?' Erasa asked. 'We're going to need water.'

'Oh, yeah, I've got it here.' Bulma said, taking the capsule out of her pocket. 'But I don't have an infinite supply of water in there. Sooner or later we will run out.'

Bulma uncapsuled her airplane, and they all quickly entered. Videl quickly grabbed some glasses to fill. She hadn't drunk anything since that glass at Master Korin's place.

'How much supply do we have?' Videl asked.

'I'm not sure, maybe a thousand litres.' Bulma replied. 'Considering how hot it is that might buy us a couple of days, maybe a week or so.'

'We're going to die here aren't we?' Videl said defeated. 'Once we run out of water.'

Nobody had an answer to that. They all knew it.

Erasa then suddenly shrieked. Gohan and the others turned to Erasa, and they saw her pockets were emitting light, glowing and dimming in periodic fashion. She put her hands in her pockets… and retrieved two glowing Dragon Balls.

'What's going on?' Erasa asked in confusion, staring at the glowing Dragon Balls.

'Where did you get those?' Videl asked.

'Goten stole them back from that Dabura monster guy.' Erasa said quietly.

'Wait a minute!' Bulma screamed, and she started searching the plane. 'That means, that means…' Within ten seconds she retrieved a bag and opened it up. They all peered inside. There were five more Dragon Balls inside the bag, glowing in the same periodic fashion.

'We have them complete!' Bulma screamed in relief, and a shimmer of hope started to fill Gohan's heart again.

They all exited the plane again, Bulma carrying the bag of Dragon Balls and Erasa carrying the other two. Bulma capsulized the airplane while Videl drank some water.

'We've got them all!' Bulma proclaimed to the rest. 'We've got all the Dragon Balls!'

'But what can we wish for?' Videl asked. 'An infinite supply of water?'

'We can only make two wishes.' Dende said. 'It's something we'll need to think through.'

'We'll need to bring back all those people Buu killed.' Gohan said immediately.

'That's one wish, but there's no more Earth.' Dende said. 'If we wish them back now, their bodies will be revived in the middle of space and they'll die by suffocation almost immediately again.'

'So the other wish is to bring back Earth.' Krillin said. 'Can the Dragon Balls bring back an entire planet?'

'I don't know if the Dragon Balls can even affect stuff there.' Dende said disdainfully. 'We're in a different dimension from where Earth was.'

'And we don't know if Majin Buu survived.' Tenshinhan said. 'If it did, it might blow up Earth again. And we're still stuck here. If we use our two wishes to bring back the Earth and its people, we still wouldn't have water.'

'We could try to wish back Earth, then wish ourselves back to Earth with the second wish.' Krillin said.

'But if you do that, we won't be able to revive Majin Buu's victims anymore.' Dende said. 'If you resurrect a group of people, the wish only affects those that have died within the last year. And we won't be able to make a third wish before that year expires.'

Gohan didn't know what to do. They were one wish short.

'Wait, I know it!' Erasa exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention. 'We just wish for more wishes!'

'That doesn't work.' Dende said. 'The Dragon can't expand its own power.'

'So, then we just have to use the Dragon Balls to survive here?' Erasa said very distraught and defeated.

Gohan understood that that had been Erasa's last hope. Her final attempt to find a way to fix everything and reunite with her family.

'No.' Gohan said. 'I refuse to give up. There's got to be a way. Too many people have lost their families and their lives.' Gohan looked from Erasa to Krillin, who had lost his wife and daughter, to Videl, who had lost her father, to Bulma, who had lost both her parents and her husband, and to Trunks, who had lost his father and his grandparents. 'I can't just turn my back to that. There's got to be a way to fix this.'

'I understand your sentiment Gohan,' Bulma started gently, 'and I'm behind you one hundred percent, I think we all are, but I don't see a way to…'

Gohan clenched his fists. What if there really was nothing they could do anymore? He didn't want to give up just because they were short one stupid wish, but did he even have a choice?

Gohan was broken from his thoughts by Goten screaming.

'Hey! That big meanie's back again!'

Everyone followed Goten's gaze. There, through the hole in the rocky wall Dabura had involuntarily left earlier, Dabura was visible in front of the red sky. He was difficult to see with his red skin-colour against the red sky, but his blue outfit gave him away.

So that monster still hadn't learned his lesson? Gohan felt his hatred for the MaKaio-Shin returning when Erasa latched onto his arm.

'Gohan don't!'

Gohan looked at Erasa's worried expression.

'Let go of me Erasa, I'll be fine.'

But Erasa didn't let go. Gohan could force himself free, but he didn't want to hurt her.

'Let go Erasa.' Gohan repeated. 'I can't fight when you're stuck on my arm.'

'What are you doing Erasa?' Videl exclaimed. 'Let go of him!'

'It's just… I don't think he's evil.' Erasa said hesitantly.

'What?!' Videl exclaimed, expressing the same amount of disbelief as Gohan. Was Erasa seriously saying that the guy who helped Majin Buu's revival, killed Piccolo, almost killed him, sent deadly red monsters after them all, and kept both Erasa and Goten hostage was somehow not evil?

'A-after he found Goten and me he said… that he had to protect this world from Majin Buu… and that he needed the Dragon Balls for that… to make him stronger.' Erasa stuttered.

'And you believe a guy like that?!' Videl exclaimed incredulously. 'I mean, I know you're crazy, but this is crazy even for you!'

'You've got to believe me!' Erasa called out desperately. 'And even if you don't…' Erasa continued, contradicting her prior statement, 'he can open up those gateways to our world. He could help us get back if we use the Dragon Balls to wish back Earth.'

'You really think he's gonna help us?!' Videl argued. 'He's nothing but trouble.'

Gohan was conflicted. A large part of him wanted to attack Dabura for everything he'd done and obliterate the MaKaio-Shin, making sure that he could never harm any of them again. It seemed like the safest option. But if Dabura would actually help them get back, they could use one wish to revive the Earth and the other to revive Majin Buu's victims, and actually fix everything.

'At least let me talk to him!' Erasa begged of Gohan. 'If he attacks me or anyone else… do it your way and kick his ass…'

Gohan looked at Videl. She seemed doubtful.

'What do you think Videl?'

'It doesn't feel right letting him get away.' Videl said. 'But if it's the only way to fix everything… maybe we should try. But I don't trust him, and he already tried to abuse us needing him to save Erasa and Goten before.'

Gohan nodded.

'Now how are we going to do this?' Videl asked.

'Maybe you could carry Erasa, I don't want to fight him while carrying her.' Gohan said.

'Okay, I'll climb on your back Videl.' Erasa said. 'That worked with Goten and me.'

Erasa climbed on Videl's back and the three teenagers lifted off.

'Good luck.' Bulma called to them. 'And be careful with that monster!'

'What're you gonna say to him?' Videl asked Erasa.

'I'm just gonna tell him he can get rid of all of us by simply letting us go home.' Erasa replied, shaking a bit. 'I don't think he wants us here, he said something about us not belonging here. It's kinda racist.'

'Are you sure you're okay with this?' Videl asked. 'You're shaking.'

'You're shaking too Videl.' Erasa replied tensely. 'No offence, but Goten flew a bit more stable.'

'Well sorry for never having flown with passengers before!' Videl snapped.

'Sorry 'bout that Videl.' Erasa quickly surrendered. 'I'm just real stressed out after everything.'

'Don't worry.' Gohan said, trying to calm them. 'If he tries anything dangerous I'll get you two out of there.'

Videl looked as if she wanted to reply angrily for a moment before focusing back on her flight, and they approached Dabura. Gohan decided he should start it up.

'Dabura.' Gohan said, laying down the rules. 'If you do anything to threaten me or my allies it's over immediately for you.'

'Why not kill me now?' Dabura replied, observant as ever. 'You must still want something from me.'

'W-we want to leave this world and go back to our world, but we need you to do that portal thingy.' Erasa stuttered. 'You-you said we didn't belong here, and we also prefer our own world… so…'

Dabura frowned in suspicion.

'Your planet was destroyed by Majin Buu.' He said. 'There's nothing there for you to go back to.'

'We can restore that planet back to its original state with the Dragon Balls.' Gohan said.

'What do you mean?'

'When all seven are combined together, the Dragon Balls summon a magical dragon that grants two wishes within its power when summoned.' Gohan continued. 'We can use one of these wishes to restore our home planet.'

'And the second wish?'

'We want to use that to resurrect the victims Majin Buu caused on our planet.' Gohan replied.

'And what about my victims?' Dabura argued. 'Your allies have caused a great number of casualties in this world as well.'

'You know they attacked us first!' Erasa retaliated, which Dabura ignored.

'The Dragon Balls are from our universe.' Gohan said. 'And I have to agree with my friend. I'm certain Goten wouldn't have harmed the life here if they didn't attack first.'

Gohan didn't feel particularly sorry for Dabura, as far as he was concerned Dabura should be glad he got another chance to make it out of this whole mess alive. And those red monsters chose to attack Goten and Erasa, while all those innocent people on Earth were just slaughtered by Majin Buu without any kind of provocation.

'So then what do I get out of it?' Dabura asked.

'Your world would be rid of the invasive species, as you call us.' Erasa said harshly.

Dabura didn't reply immediately, he seemed to be considering his options.

'Do you realise Majin Buu is still alive?' Dabura asked.

'How can that monster be alive?' Videl asked incredulously. 'Wasn't it on the planet when it was destroyed?'

'Majin Buu is a creature with immense durability. It was blown to bits but managed to pull itself back together. If you return, it will most likely attack you again.'

Gohan had been considering the possibility of Majin Buu's survival, but it was still bad news. Maybe it was better to stay here and survive to avoid getting annihilated by Buu.

'G-Gohan?' Videl asked. 'You went to train with Krillin to fight that monster right? You think you can beat it?'

'I don't know.' Gohan replied. What would his father do? The answer to that question was easy. Goku would fight Majin Buu and give everything he had. He wouldn't ever settle with defeat. Gohan remembered his father fighting Freeza, and for a long time it had looked as if he had absolutely no chance of beating the monster. But Goku never gave up, even after Freeza had survived the Genki-Dama, and figured out a way to overpower Freeza in the end.

'But I'm not going to give up.' Gohan continued. 'Videl said that the Kaio-Ken energy inside Buu might be a weakness, and I agree.'

'You stand no chance against Majin Buu.' Dabura said after a few moments.

'Maybe.' Erasa said. 'But you know that if that Buu-monster is not destroyed it will eventually come here. That's why you tried to gather the Dragon Balls and went out of your way to figure out how they worked. If Gohan wins he also protects this world from that monster. You only have to gain by helping us.'

After a few more moments, Dabura spoke again.

'Very well. Have it your way.'

* * *

 **[Author's note: One of my longest chapters so far. It's been fun to write this. It may seem like not much is happening, but I want to give Earth's destruction and the loss of millions of lives a moment to breathe, it's a big deal even if they have Dragon Balls again. I know that they could wish themselves to Namek and use their Dragon Balls for extra wishes and circumvent the need of Dabura, but it was something that I didn't think about until actually writing this chapter, so I can imagine that the characters might not think about that either in a stressful situation like this.**

 **Update April 5th 2018: If you are wondering when I'll be updating again, don't worry. I have not forgotten about this story at all. I'm actually writing the rest of the story at once now, I'm still not entirely sure how to break it up. Perhaps I'll release it all as one big finale chapter, but I haven't decided yet. A climax is quite difficult to write well, it has to be a good payoff to all the buildup that is already present. I don't want the climax to feel too short, but I don't want it to drag either. It has to be tense, cool, believable, rewarding, and keep on pulling the reader along and sparking their interest instead of invoking them to skip scenes. I know that that isn't exactly an answer as to _when_ I'll be updating again. The answer is, when it's finished and I think it's good enough. When is that? I don't know yet.]**


	43. Summoning the Dragon

**Author's note: It's been a long time since the last update, almost ten months. But it's here. The first portion of the final battle. I've got everything written out now and edited, only some post-battle stuff to wrap things up still needs to be written. I'll be uploading it in separate chapters over the next couple of days. The reasoning being is that if I stick the entire climax in one chapter it'd be an incredibly long chapter, and if I uploaded everything at once readers might go to the last chapter and mistakenly skip stuff. I've tried my best to make this a climax that does justice to the buildup, that is not too predictable and is engaging and tense. Hope you'll enjoy the final stages of this story.**

* * *

'Let's go summon the Dragon now.' Gohan said before Dabura could change his mind.

They flew back inside the strange rocky building and joined the rest, the others looking very apprehensive at Dabura.

'We have a plan.' Videl announced. 'Dabura will let us go back home if we use the wishes to bring back Earth and Majin Buu's victims.'

Dabura nodded, floating a bit above the group, while Gohan kept a good eye on him. He didn't trust him at all.

'That's great!' Bulma replied loudly. 'So you want to do this now?'

'Yes, the sooner I can leave this wretched place the better.' Erasa replied, before staring at the seven Dragon Balls grouped together on the ground. 'So how does this actually work?'

'Shenlong!' Bulma called out loudly, opting to simply show rather than tell. 'Come out! We need you!'

'That isn't much of a spell.' Erasa remarked. 'I thought it'd be a really cool ritual or something as it's a magical dragon and all.'

But Erasa had to swallow her words quickly as the seven Dragon Balls began glowing brighter and brighter, and a golden light erupted upwards from them. The light grew higher and higher, breaking through the rocky ceiling of the building they were occupying, and it kept on growing. The light formed the shape of an enormous serpent dragon, and then dispersed, leaving behind the actual green dragon. Over a kilometre long, with a head as large as the entire lookout had been, the tip of its tail still connected with the Dragon Balls on the ground, with antlers and strange waving whiskers on its head, and pure red eyes lacking iris or pupil, the Eternal Dragon Shenlong had appeared in front of the now black sky and was looking down at them.

Gohan had only seen Shenlong once before; seven years ago when they wished back all of Cell's victims. Judging by their shocked looks, it was obviously the first time for Goten, Trunks, Erasa, Videl, and even for his own mother seeing Shenlong.

'Okay, that's way too big.' Erasa said hesitantly. 'How does that fit into those little Dragon Balls?'

'I dunno.' Videl replied stunned, before changing her tone in a panic. 'But shut up! What if it thinks you're making a wish?!'

Erasa turned wide-eyed to Videl and quickly covered her mouth with her hands in fear.

'Those who have summoned me!' Shenlong boomed loudly. 'I can grant you any two wishes! State your wishes, and hurry up because it is really hot and my head hurts!'

Erasa scurried behind Videl at Shenlong's less than polite greeting. Gohan didn't remember Shenlong being this cranky. The Dragon probably banged its head against the ceiling, maybe summoning it indoors was a mistake. Regardless, now it was time to bring back Earth.

'A monster called Majin Buu destroyed planet Earth!' Gohan called out. 'Our first wish is to restore Earth to the state it was before Majin Buu's destruction!'

'And also giving difficult wishes…' Shenlong muffled, before resuming on its regular booming voice. 'Bringing back an entire planet will take some time, but it shall be done.'

The Dragon's eyes started glowing and Gohan turned his attention to Dabura.

'As soon as the Earth is back you'll take us back, I don't want to give Buu any opportunity to destroy it again.'

Dabura nodded.

'So… how long does this stuff normally take?' Videl shyly asked Bulma.

'It's usually almost instantaneous.' Bulma replied. 'It must be struggling with this one.'

'But… does that mean it can't do it?' Erasa asked frightened.

'If Shenlong couldn't perform the wish it would have told us.' Dende said. 'It just needs a bit of time for this one.'

Gohan then thought of something else.

'Hey Dende?' Gohan said. 'Can we wait with the second wish until after I defeated Buu? I'd rather not have any innocent people get killed during the fight.'

'Majin Buu is still alive?' Dende asked shaken.

'Dabura said so.'

'That complicates things.' Dende said. 'I'm not sure how long I can give you. Shenlong can only stay in its summoned state for a limited amount of time.'

So he also had a time limit. Gohan realised he'd better finish off Buu fast in that case. That had probably already been the best course of action regardless, no sense in giving Buu any chance to blow up the planet again or do something unexpected.

'G-Gohan?'

Gohan turned to see his mother, tears running down her face.

'You are going to fight again aren't you?' Chi-Chi cried.

'I-I'm sorry mom.' Gohan stuttered. 'I have to.'

'I… I know.' Chi-Chi sobbed. 'I… I wish you wouldn't... I… I wish everything could go back to how it was… no monsters… just us living together as a family.'

'Oh mom…' Gohan stuttered, and he moved to hug his mother. 'I want that too. If I… no, when I beat this monster… then we can all go back home. Then you and Goten… you'll be safe again.'

'Please be careful Gohan.' Chi-Chi cried. 'I already lost your father again today… I don't want to lose you too.'

'I love you too mom.' Gohan said, still embracing his mother. 'I promise I'll do my best. For you and for Goten.'

'I wanna help too Gohan!' Goten called out. 'I can fight too!'

'No Goten.' Gohan said, releasing his mother. 'You're too young. Stay here and protect mom okay?'

Goten didn't look happy with Gohan's decision, but Gohan gave him a strict stare.

'Okay Gohan.' Goten relented after a few moments.

Shenlong's eyes stopped glowing.

'Your wish has been granted!' The Dragon boomed. 'Now, what is your second wish?'

Gohan turned to Dabura who once again made a circular motion with his outstretched arm, opening up another gateway. Gohan flew up to him.

'This will lead back to your planet, close to Majin Buu.' Dabura said.

'Good luck Gohan!' Erasa called out after him, and several others also called out their cheers.

Gohan passed through the gateway and immediately felt the more comfortable environment of Earth surrounding him. It was dark, the sun had already set in this part of the world and there was no illumination apart from starlight. It was eerily quiet, and the lack of life force he felt on the planet confirmed his worst fears, he and Buu were the only ones alive on the planet. Gohan looked around. He was in a mountainous wasteland, and the incomplete energy signal from Majin Buu was close by. Looking up, he saw Majin Buu floating in the sky.

Buu was a lot smaller than before and looked more in control of its power. It was about 150cm tall, slim, with wide white pants, no clothing covering its upper pink body, and a weird pink appendage on top of its head. Were all these changes to Majin Buu's body the consequence of that Kaio-Ken energy? It seemed calm and it didn't look like Buu had already noticed Gohan's presence.

No! He couldn't afford to take any more risks. He had limited time until Shenlong disappeared. Buu had to be destroyed now! Gohan, still in his Super Saiyan state, powered up and lightning erupted in his golden aura from his strength, illuminating the area. He concentrated his energy and charged up his Kamehameha attack.

Releasing the attack, Gohan hit Majin Buu dead on from behind, and the attack fully enveloped Buu. As the attack flew off into space, Gohan stared at where Majin Buu had been. The monster did not appear to be there, but Gohan quickly noticed several small parts of pink gooey material coalescing and reforming the monster.

Gohan narrowed his eyes. His father must have struggled with this too. How can you beat a monster that can reform itself like that? Despite all his training with Krillin and imagining the situation in his mind, he still hadn't found an answer.

Majin Buu fully reformed back to its small stature and stared at Gohan with creepy red pupils surrounded by black eyes. And the monster then began cackling.

Gohan stared perplexed at Buu for a moment before quickly raising his guard again. And just in time too, as Majin Buu suddenly went on the offensive without warning. It approached at high speed and Gohan rapidly descended to dodge its assault. Turning around, Gohan saw Majin Buu leaning backwards and moving its legs back too. It rolled its legs across its back and over its shoulders and crossed its arms in front of its torso, forming its entire body into a ball. Whether it had a really flexible skeleton or didn't have a skeletal structure at all, Gohan didn't know.

But Gohan didn't have long to contemplate Majin Buu's biology as the monster rapidly approached Gohan again as a cannonball. Gohan swerved out of the way and Buu passed at very high speed before making a turn and approaching him again. Gohan dodged again and began charging up another Kamehameha attack. On Buu's third approach Gohan retaliated and attacked the monster with his energy attack. Majin Buu was blown apart again, but quickly reformed as if nothing had happened at all. Gohan growled in frustration. No, he couldn't let his anger control him, he had to keep a clear head if he wanted to win this. He couldn't afford to make mistakes.

Majin Buu rolled itself up into its cannonball shape again and charged in. Gohan quickly descended again to dodge and landed on the ground as he watched the pink cannonball monster make a wide turn in the sky and come after him again. What even was this mad fighting style? Gohan watched Majin Buu's approach carefully and jumped out of the way at the last instant, causing Buu to crash hard into the ground. Gohan could still sense Majin Buu's strange incomplete energy beneath the surface, digging through the soil at high speed.

* * *

As Videl watched Gohan fly through Dabura's gateway, she turned to Krillin.

'Hey Krillin?'

'What is it?'

'Well you umm, you trained with Gohan,' Videl clumsily stuttered, 'do you know if he… uhmm… you know… can he beat Buu?'

Krillin sighed.

'I honestly don't know. He gained a lot of strength when training with me and quickly regained his fighting sense, but I also sensed the energies of Goku and Vegeta when they fought Buu before. I'd say Gohan is fairly similar in power to them.'

'And Goku and Vegeta lost…' Videl concluded. 'Even when fighting together.'

'But you never know for sure.' Krillin said quickly. 'Gohan doesn't have the power to destroy Buu head-on, but if he can figure out a weakness in Buu's regenerative abilities he has a chance.'

'The Kaio-Ken energy inside Buu you mean?'

'Oh yeah, you came up with that right?' Krillin said. 'I can't think of a way to exploit it, but hopefully Gohan can.'

That didn't sound too hopeful. Videl hated the situation. She hated not being able to do anything. Ever since the Cell Games she had worked hard to grow strong so that one day she could follow in her father's footsteps and save the world when needed. And now the day was there that the world was in danger, and she couldn't do anything. She was far too weak.

A booming voice distracted Videl from her thoughts.

'Umm, guys.' Shenlong announced. 'I'm still waiting for a wish here. If you don't have a second wish I'm just gonna go okay?'

'Can't you hold out a bit longer?' Dende asked the Dragon desperately.

'It's really hot in here and my head hurts,' the Dragon said stubbornly.

'I'll take a look at your head.' Dende said.

Dende flew up to the Dragon's head and inspected it, before holding out his hands and his body started glowing again. Videl recognised that as Dende's healing power, the same that he had used on her before.

'Ehh, what's he doing?' Erasa asked confused.

'He's healing the bump on its head I think.' Videl replied. 'I think it hit its head when we summoned it.'

'Aren't dragons supposed to, you know, be big and strong and stuff?'

'Apparently Shenlong isn't.' Krillin said frowning.

'It's just kinda weird that this huge magical Dragon is complaining about hitting its head.' Erasa flapped out.

'You know…' Shenlong mumbled in its booming voice. 'I can be really mean in how I interpret wishes...'

Videl smacked Erasa on the head for that.

'You idiot! Stop making the Dragon mad!'

Erasa shied away in guilt.

'Sorry.' Erasa said shamefully. 'I just start blabbering when I'm stressed you know.'

* * *

Gohan tracked Buu's incomplete energy as the monster dug underground. Before long the monster shot upwards towards him. Gohan swerved around it and grabbed Buu's leg to swing the monster around. He tossed the monster towards a rock formation at high speed and followed up with a series of ki blasts. Buu tangled itself out of its cannonball shape and spread its body outwards, flattening its gooey body structure to increase air drag as a big sail. Buu slowed down, reverted to its normal shape, and bounced back from the rock formation, approaching Gohan at high speed. Gohan, not expecting Buu to return so fast, got hit and crashed into the ground.

That one hurt, but Gohan knew his body could take this kind of punishment. Gohan quickly got up and fired another Kamehameha wave towards Buu, obliterating the monster once more. He spread out the range of his attack. If he could destroy those individual pieces that just might work.

Gohan then sensed something above him, and looking upwards he saw smoke gathering and reforming Buu again. _Even down to a molecular state it can reform!_ Buu reformed fully and started cackling incoherently. Then, without warning, it gathered a large amount of ki in its right hand which it held above him where it formed into a large pink sphere.

Gohan wasn't about to let Majin Buu get away with that and quickly fired another Kamehameha wave at the monster. The monster nimbly swerved out of the way, causing Gohan's energy wave to hit Buu's energy attack, detonating it.

The explosion was big, and Gohan had to shield himself from the blast wave. As the wave passed, he was suddenly hit from behind by Majin Buu's kick. Gohan flipped around and landed on his feet, facing Buu. He saw Buu stomping its left leg down on the ground hard and Gohan was suddenly hit from below by Buu's kick coming from underground, right in between his legs.

Gohan jumped upwards in agony as he was hit, and Majin Buu flew up after him. It gathered more ki in its hands and blasted at Gohan, who was unable to defend after Buu's earlier hit and was blown through a couple of rock formations.

Gohan got back up, his back, groin, and front protesting painfully. He saw Buu approaching quickly and dodged the latter's approach before kicking the monster in the back. He followed up with a ki blast through Buu's head and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks to Buu's torso. He used both of his feet to kick Buu in the stomach and bounce off to gain distance, before blasting the monster again. Gohan tried to sense where Majin Buu was and quickly found the pink monster reforming above him. He tried blasting it again but the pink bunch of goo spread out and opened up a hole, letting Gohan's blast sail right in between it, and then Majin Buu was fully reformed.

Gohan growled in frustration. Buu's earlier hits still hurt, he wasn't getting anywhere fast and in the meantime Shenlong could vanish any minute. No. He had to keep faith in Dende, Dende wouldn't allow Shenlong to vanish without making their wish.

Majin Buu cackled again and started releasing a large streak of fire from its mouth. Gohan quickly jumped out of the way to dodge. Gohan tried something different and left several after-images in his wake, quickly dodging and swerving around while looking for an opening. Majin Buu attacked his images with its firebreath, causing them to vanish, but Gohan kept up his stream of after-images. He approached from behind and knocked Buu into the air. He quickly followed up with a series of punches to Buu's torso. Buu started to fight back, but Gohan was too fast and managed to dodge Buu's attempts to punch and kick him. Gohan swerved around Buu and knocked the pink monster away from him, before vanishing and leaving behind several after-images in his wake. Gohan started to charge up his most powerful Kamehameha wave so far while continually using his after-image technique to avoid Buu's attacks. As Gohan was fully charged up and approached Buu from behind Gohan blasted the pink monster at close range with his Kamehameha wave, fully enveloping the monster.

Buu was blown apart once again. Gohan unleashed everything, trying to finish this once and for all. Once he'd unleashed his entire attack Gohan landed on the ground panting heavily. He couldn't sense Buu anymore. But after a few seconds he sensed a disturbing energy again, and looking up Gohan saw Buu reforming once again. How did that monster keep this up? Gohan knew he was stronger, faster, and more skilled than Majin Buu, but if this continued on he would end up without stamina. Gohan then also sensed something else, very minute, and within Buu's energy as it was reforming. A violent, chaotic energy; the Kaio-Ken energy! It was still in there somewhere! Videl was right! But how to take advantage of it? If only his father were still here, he knew the Kaio-Ken attack much better, he might've come up with something. But Goku was gone, and Gohan knew it was all up to him. As Gohan was panting and trying to recover some of his stamina, he glared at Buu, trying to figure the monster out. The monster was so strange, unlike anything he'd ever faced before, and that was definitely not a good thing. He then saw Majin Buu roll itself up again into a ball, and the monster started spinning fast.


	44. An Enormous Moving Operation

**[Author's note: I also updated this story a few days ago. If you missed that update, go read the previous chapter first so you don't miss anything.]**

* * *

Dende landed next to Bulma, Erasa, and Videl.

'How does that feel?' Dende asked Shenlong.

'It's still really hot!' The Dragon complained. 'If you don't have a second wish I'd actually like to go.'

'No please, can't you wait a little while longer?' Dende pleaded.

Shenlong merely grumbled in response. Dende sighed.

'How long do we have left?' Videl asked worried.

'Hard to say.' Dende replied. 'This environment is not good for it. This heat, the air, it's not good.'

'I was just thinking something…' Bulma interrupted. 'Once Shenlong grants the second wish, wouldn't the Dragon Balls scatter in this world instead of Earth?'

'I think they would yes.' Dende replied. 'But that shouldn't be a problem, I can make a new set once we're on Earth, which would render the old set permanently inert. It's far from the main problem right now.'

Videl looked back at the enormous dragon and noticed tiny fragments of steam being released from its scales.

'I think we're just about out of time.' Videl noted. 'Can you tell how Gohan's doing against Buu?'

Dende slapped his forehead.

'I didn't think about that. I can't. And you're right, Shenlong can't last much longer here.'

'So are we going to make the wish now anyway regardless of whether Gohan has already finished Buu?' Erasa asked. 'I think we should do it now instead of wasting the entire wish.'

Dende seemed to be deep in thought.

'We need more time.' Dende said. 'I think we can give Shenlong more time by bringing it to Earth. That way we can also observe the battle and see how Gohan is doing.'

'You can do that?!' Bulma exclaimed in shock.

'Sure we can.' Dende said. 'The Dragon is connected to the Dragon Balls, not to the ground.'

'Don't you think that's dangerous?' Tenshinhan asked. 'Bringing Shenlong to Earth also means it could get hit in the fight.'

'That's indeed a risk.' Dende said. 'But if the choice is between bringing Shenlong to Earth or making the wish now I'd rather bring Shenlong. One dragon is easier to cover than hundreds of millions of people.'

Videl looked back at the enormous dragon. Were they actually going to move it to Earth? It looked way too big to do that. It was insane. Even Bulma seemed to have doubts about it and it appeared as if she actually had experience with huge magical dragons.

'How are we going to move it to Earth?' Bulma asked.

Dende turned to Dabura.

'Dabura, can you open a gateway to Earth large enough to fit the Dragon?'

'Only if it goes through head-first or tail-first.' Dabura replied.

'Good enough.' Dende said. 'Please open up a gateway.'

Dabura simply shrugged and started moving in a large circular path through the sky, while keeping his hand stretched perpendicular to his path.

'Shenlong, we'll get you to a cooler place!' Dende called out. 'Just hold on for a little while longer! Please move head-first through the gateway!'

Dende turned to Bulma.

'We'll need to carry the Dragon Balls from this side through, keeping up with Shenlong's motion.' Dende explained.

'Isn't the Dragon really heavy?' Erasa asked.

'I think Goten, Trunks, Tenshinhan, and Krillin can carry the Dragon Balls, they're strong enough.'

Shenlong started moving through the gateway Dabura had created. Goten, Trunks, Tenshinhan, and Krillin each picked up a pair of Dragon Balls and started hovering, Goten only carrying one Dragon Ball.

'Keep a good eye on the Dragon.' Krillin said. 'We have to carry this side through.'

'Goten, fly a bit more to the left.' Tenshinhan instructed.

'Which way is left?'

Videl noticed the steam being emitted from Shenlong's scales slowly increased, and some shuddering motions revealed the Dragon's discomfort.

'Be a bit more careful!' Dende called out. 'Try to keep it in a good mood!'

With Shenlong being over a kilometre long, it took quite a while and a lot of miscommunication, especially with Goten often confusing left and right, but eventually the four managed to fly through the gateway.

Erasa turned to Videl.

'Let's go too!'

Videl was doubtful. She'd witnessed Gohan fighting Dabura at the lookout earlier and realised it'd be really dangerous if fighting like that was happening on Earth, and she knew she couldn't do anything to help out there. Erasa noticed Videl's hesitance.

'What's up? It's not like you to be scared.'

'It's just… I've never experienced fights on this scale before.' Videl said. 'You weren't there when Gohan fought Dabura. It was insane.'

'I just don't feel safe here.' Erasa admitted. 'Now Goten and Gohan are gone and I still remember those mean red monsters…'

Videl glanced around. It looked like most fighters were gone now, only she, Chi-Chi, Ox-King, Master Roshi, and Korin were left, and Bulma, Dende, and Erasa who didn't know how to fight. It was true they were vulnerable here.

'Alright then.' Videl decided. 'Climb on.'

'I'll come along too!' Chi-Chi announced. 'I'm not leaving my boys behind!'

Chi-Chi ran to the gateway and jumped through. Videl wasn't great at estimating heights, but she was certain Chi-Chi jumped at least sixty metres high.

'I'll join you guys too.' Korin said. 'No sense in being the only ones left behind.'

Before long, everyone had decided to join in. Dende carried Korin, Videl carried Erasa and decided to fly back for Bulma. Ox-King and Master Roshi jumped through themselves.

* * *

Gohan watched Majin Buu spinning rapidly. The pink monster approached him again at high speed without warning. Gohan swerved out of the way, still panting, trying to recover his stamina. Fighting back now wouldn't do any good. He had to hit Buu with a lot more force at once to actually cause damage, otherwise Buu would simply regenerate. Majin Buu approached again, and as Gohan dodged a second time Buu suddenly released a large streak of firebreath. Barely managing to escape, Gohan rapidly dodged the flames. Landing on the ground, he felt a burning pain on his left arm. Gohan looked at his arm and noticed the black sleeve of his Great Saiyaman outfit was completely burned away, and there were burn wounds on his lower arm.

Wincing, Gohan looked back up and saw Majin Buu approach again, its rapidly spinning form surrounded by a disk of fire. What was this monster? Didn't it have any considerations for conserving its energy? Gohan jumped out of the way, perpendicular to Majin Buu's fire disk, and charged up his Kamehameha attack again. Majin Buu was quite a lot harder to dodge with it spraying fire everywhere, so Gohan left behind several after-images. Once he was charged up, Gohan fired.

'KAMEHAMEHA!'

Sending his ki through his burnt arm hurt a lot, but he had to endure the pain. The pink monster didn't appear to respond at all to Gohan's attack. Instead, the fire disk surrounding it absorbed Gohan's attack and grew in intensity for a few moments. _Darn it! I forgot about that!_ _What now? How can I attack it if I can't get close and it simply absorbs any energy attacks?_

Forced on the defensive, Gohan could do little more than repeatedly dodging Majin Buu's rapid fire-spinning attack. When was this monster ever going to get tired? What if this monster couldn't get tired but could just keep on going forever? As Gohan descended rapidly in the face of another approach he sensed ki behind him. Glancing around, he noticed an enormous gateway had been opened in the sky and Shenlong's head was coming through it.

 _They can do that?! What are they doing?! Why are they doing that?! They could get hit!_

Feeling heat coming from above, Gohan barely managed to avoid Majin Buu's next attack. Landing on the ground in pain, Gohan wincingly glanced at his right arm, which was now also burned. Not good. But he had to keep his focus, he couldn't get distracted! He had to find a way to stop Buu.

Keeping up his defensive dodging approach, Gohan left behind after-image after after-image to try and avoid the searing flames. He ducked underneath, he swerved sideways out of the way, he flew over the flaming disc, but Gohan realised it wasn't a sustainable strategy if Buu didn't get tired.

Gohan glanced again in the direction of Shenlong, and noticed that everyone was there with Shenlong. He couldn't help but wonder why they were all here and what they were doing as he left more after-images and swerved out of the way again.

Focusing back on the fight Gohan began to notice that Majin Buu couldn't change its axis of rotation quickly while it was spinning so fast. What was it called again? Angular momentum or something? It didn't really matter what it was called, what mattered was that he might be able to use this as an opening. Carefully eyeing Buu's approach, Gohan left an after-image in his wake and used his full speed to fly out of the way, perpendicular to its flaming disc. As Majin Buu approached, Gohan quickly descended and used his full speed to kick Buu from above in its side to avoid its flames. Majin Buu crashed hard into the ground.

* * *

As Videl carried Bulma through the gateway and put her down on the ground, she looked at Gohan's fight. It was impossible to miss, the eruptions of his golden aura and blue lightning sparks stood out sharply against the night sky, although she couldn't hope to follow the action. He flew around so fast! Majin Buu likewise stood out, as a crazy fast spinning disc of fire. What the hell? And the heat erupted from Majin Buu was intense as well, she could feel it all the way over here and they were several kilometres away.

'What's that crazy monster doing?' Krillin asked. 'I'd get dizzy real fast if I fought like that, not to mention run out of energy. That's like the most energy-inefficient way of fighting ever.'

'Wait, you can follow them?' Videl asked.

'Just about. Try to focus on their ki.' Krillin said. 'Don't try to follow it with your eyes.'

Videl remembered she'd done that at the Tournament too. She tried to focus on the action and sense their ki. It was enormous, especially Gohan's, but she still couldn't hope to keep up. Her brain just wasn't fast enough to process the rapid movements Gohan made. Majin Buu seemed to move a bit simpler, rapidly spinning around its axis but moving in large and wide paths to try and hit Gohan. Majin Buu then suddenly crashed hard into the ground, its trajectory suddenly changed.

'Alright! Nice one!' Krillin called out.

Gohan seemed to have stopped moving for a bit to catch his breath.

'He looks pretty beat up.' Tenshinhan said concerned. 'He's got burn wounds on his arms.'

But before Videl could even ask Tenshinhan how he could possibly see that from this distance in the dark, Majin Buu erupted back from the ground and approached Gohan at incredible speed. Gohan retaliated with a blindingly bright beam of blue ki that seemed to swallow Majin Buu entirely, and almost immediately after Videl was almost blown away by a very strong gust.

'What was that?!' Erasa shrieked from behind her while crawling back up.

'It was one of Gohan's attacks.' Videl replied back shakingly.

Videl noticed that Buu wasn't gone yet. She could sense its strange ki was still there, and in the distance she could see it grow back together again.

'It just pulls itself back together!' Tenshinhan called out in frustration. 'How do you beat something like that?'

Nobody replied as Majin Buu started spinning again and breathing fire. To Videl it looked like a repeat of steps from before. Gohan's ki started moving around again at speeds far too great to follow for Videl. But then suddenly the disc of fire changed and a streak of fire erupted perpendicular to the disc. Videl noticed Gohan crashing into the ground at high speed simultaneously, and his ki had dropped sharply.

'GOHAN!' Goten exclaimed in a panic, and he tried to fly towards the battlefield.

'No, stay here!' Tenshinhan ordered, grabbing Goten and holding him in place. 'We've got to cover the dragon remember?!'

'But Gohan's in trouble!' Goten argued.

Videl, not really thinking about what she was doing, flew off towards Gohan.

'VIDEL DON'T!' Krillin screamed, but he was too late.

Videl ignored Krillin. From the corner of her eye she watched Majin Buu cackling in the sky and she flew as fast as she could towards Gohan. As she landed beside him she saw the true extent of his injuries. Second-degree burns all over his arms, a broken left leg, and bruises all over his body, but he was still alive, trying but failing to stand back up on his good leg. It reminded her of the time when Krillin and Tenshinhan brought Gohan's injured body back to the airplane. Gohan was just as banged up now, which gave her an idea.

'V-Videl'. Gohan stuttered as he noticed her. 'What are you doing here? You should've stayed in the Demon Realm, it's far too dangerous for you here!'

'Something about the dragon not lasting in that hot place.' Videl replied matter-of-factly. 'And didn't I tell you that this is just as much my planet to protect as it is yours?'

'But, you're not strong enough.' Gohan brought out, while Videl took something out of her pocket.

'Shut up and eat this.' Videl snapped and handed him a Senzu. 'I may not be strong or fast enough to fight that monster but that doesn't mean I can't help you.'

Gohan took the magical bean and ate it. The bruises on his body disappeared, the burn wounds and his broken leg healed quickly, and within moments Gohan was back up.

'Now go beat that monster.' Videl ordered.

'If only it was as easy as that sounds.' Gohan replied downtrodden but healthier. 'It keeps on regenerating no matter how hard I hit it. And it's like it can't get tired or something, it just keeps on going.'

'You're a smart guy Gohan.' Videl said stubbornly. 'You'll figure… hey!'

Before Videl could finish Gohan had already flown off, and she could see why. Majin Buu had tried to attack the others and unleashed a barrage of small ki blasts in the direction of the magical dragon! Videl saw Goten, Trunks, Tenshinhan, Krillin, and Yamcha had joined up to deflect all the blasts away from the dragon while Gohan attacked Majin Buu directly and knocked him away into a mountain.

Videl looked back at the pouch still in her hand and examined its contents.

'Come on Gohan.' Videl said quietly despite knowing he couldn't possibly hear her. 'I have one more but maybe next time I won't be so lucky to be able to hand it to you.'

* * *

 **[Author's note: Moving Shenlong while its summoned isn't something I've ever heard of anyone else doing, but if you think about it there's no reason why it should be forced to stay in the same position. Shenlong suffering from the different environmental conditions in the Demon Realm also makes sense I think, and I hope it helps to make the situation just that bit more dire and tense. It being a bit cranky might seem out-of-character, but I think that at least canon Shenlong didn't really have all that much character to be out of in the first place anyway.**

 **Also thanks to QueenKeesie for beta reading the entire climax for me.]**


	45. Goten's anger

Gohan watched as Majin Buu emerged from the rubble of where once a mountain stood. Videl's Senzu had healed him and restored his energy, but there still was the problem of Majin Buu being alive, and despite fighting for a while he was still no closer to finding a way to finish this.

Majin Buu approached quickly and engaged Gohan with a fierce assault of punches and kicks. Gohan ducked, blocked, and dodged while continually doing his best to strike back. Gohan found an opening and pummelled the pink monster hard towards the ground. Upon impact, Majin Buu splattered into a pile of pink goo, which immediately bounced back up and reformed into Buu's regular shape. Buu released more firebreath which Gohan narrowingly dodged. Gohan approached Buu from the side and kicked it hard in its torso area. Majin Buu was knocked back but changed its shape again to increase its air drag before quickly returning.

Majin Buu cackled before releasing a long kick, stretching its leg. Gohan was hit hard in his stomach and buckled over, while Buu wrapped its head tentacle around his wrist and threw Gohan to the ground. Gohan quickly turned in mid-air to land on his feet, leaving a large crater in the ground. That one hurt. Before Gohan could get his bearings he felt a big hit on his head, ramming him into the ground.

Looking into the sky, Gohan saw Majin Buu soaring through the sky spinning rapidly. Darn it, was that monster getting faster and stronger as the battle progressed or had it been holding back before? As Gohan tried to get up his right leg protested heavily. Glancing at it, Gohan winced. His leg had been broken when he landed. That wasn't good. Better stick with flying to avoid putting loads on it. Gohan floated back up and glared at Buu.

'Kamehameha!'

Gohan's attack hit Buu and blasted it apart, but Gohan knew it would just come back again. His leg was hurting and he couldn't fully summon his power due to it. As Buu reformed itself it approached quickly and released more firebreath. Gohan dodged Buu's attack, the sudden motion sparking an intense pain through his leg.

 _Darn it, I can't focus my ki properly in that leg anymore!_

Majin Buu returned with another streak of fire. Gohan swerved out of the way again, but either he was less fortunate or Buu got better at aiming. Gohan felt the heat searing his left arm. Gohan retaliated in anger by sending a strong blast to Buu with his right hand. Buu was blasted in pieces, and Gohan took the opportunity to examine his left arm. The black cloth of his Saiyaman costume was burned off, and underneath he had suffered serious burn wounds. Gohan winced, it hurt.

Gazing upon Buu regenerating, Gohan realised this wasn't going well. Buu was fighting a lot more intensely than at the beginning. Gohan was suffering injury upon injury while it appeared like Buu could keep this up indefinitely.

' _You're a smart guy Gohan, you'll figure it out.'_

That's what Videl had said. But how? Gohan wasn't like his father. Gohan wasn't dumb, but his father had always been better and quicker in finding weaknesses. When it came to fighting smarts, his father had always had him beat. And his father hadn't figured this out either. What could he do?

Majin Buu started spinning rapidly and approached like a cannonball. Gohan launched more blast attacks with his right hand, but the pink monster countered by releasing more firebreath which absorbed his blasts. Gohan tried to swerve out of the way but he felt his broken right leg getting grabbed at the ankle by something, and due to Buu's fast spinning motion Gohan was tossed down into the ground at incredible speed.

Gohan crashed with his back first into the ground. He lay crippled, pain searing throughout his body. He was fairly sure that that blow broke several more bones of his body. He opened his eyes and saw a blast coming straight at him. Unable to respond fast enough, Gohan took another direct hit to his chest. He felt himself crashing again into the hard ground. Gohan forced his eyes back open and saw Majin Buu releasing a streak of firebreath in his direction. Gohan tried his hardest to summon his ki, and used his right arm to throw a blast to his right. Gohan was hurtled to the left in recoil, his entire body screaming in pain at the sudden acceleration. Gohan fell and skidded along the ground, rolling several times before stopping on his back.

How could he win like this? His body was crippled and broken, he couldn't even fight back. Gohan dreaded opening his eyes again. _'Real heroes never give up!'_ That's what he often said to Goten while thinking about his father, usually in respect to the Great Saiyaman.

 _I won't give up!_

Gohan opened his eyes. The only thing he could see was fire. Fire everywhere in his vision.

* * *

Erasa had seen Gohan get hit. Gohan had fought for a little while after Videl had patched him up with that magical bean. But then he started to lose. Even though she could hardly see anything of the fight, the body language of Videl and Krillin had been telling. And then Gohan crashed into the ground, the impact making a deafening noise. A blast was thrown sideways, Erasa had no idea why as Majin Buu wasn't in that direction, and then a streak of fire was sent down at the ground.

'GOHAN!' Krillin and Videl screamed simultaneously, while Gohan's mom fainted.

The sound that they made, it was heart-wrenching, and Erasa knew it was bad. Without thinking, she started running towards where the fire had been sent down while Majin Buu started cackling and laughing sadistically in the sky.

'GOHAN!' Erasa screamed while running. She didn't know what she could do. She didn't even think about it. All she wanted to do was help him out. And before she could think of it further she'd reached her destination and found Gohan lying on the ground. He was not moving.

Erasa could do nothing but stare at Gohan's body. No, Gohan couldn't be dead. He just couldn't be! Desperate, Erasa crouched down and touched Gohan's chest. She didn't feel a heartbeat, she didn't feel a breath. He didn't respond.

'NO!' Erasa screamed, pushing and shaking his chest with both her hands. Gohan, the shy dorky guy from school with the superpowers and the kind heart. The guy who had saved the world from Cell at the tender age of ten. He just couldn't be dead. It was just so wrong! Gohan didn't deserve this!

Erasa was distracted by another scream. A scream filled with despair, anger, rage, grief, and other emotions that were also coursing through her own body. A strong wind caught her and tossed her on her backside. The ground began shaking violently. As she looked at the source she saw who was screaming. Goten, tears running down his face, enveloped in a blazing golden aura.

'Goten…' Erasa said quietly, her voice shaking, feeling as if she was stabbed in the heart. It was all just so wrong. Goten was just a sweet innocent six-year old. Nobody should have to experience their big brother's death first-hand, especially not Goten. Damn this situation! If only that blasted Buu-monster had never shown up! She hated that monster so much! She hated her complete lack of power to do anything as Goten continued to scream.

'YOU MEANIE!' Goten screamed in agony and he blasted off, straight towards Majin Buu.

'GOTEN NO!' Erasa screamed, but Goten either didn't hear her or didn't listen.

Goten approached Buu at an incredible speed and punched the pink monster straight in its face.

'YOU MEANIE!' Goten screamed again. 'I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!'

Goten followed up kicks and punches to Buu's torso area and knocked the monster into the ground. The monster collapsed into a pile of goo upon crashing, and quickly bounced back up. It regained form mid-ascent, flew up behind Goten, and smacked him hard on his back with both of its fists simultaneously. Goten fell rapidly but turned mid-descent to land incredibly hard on his feet. Dust and rocks were kicked up and scattered in the surrounding area, and Erasa instinctively tried to cover Gohan's body from the destruction as her ears were all but shattered by the noise Goten's landing made.

Goten's golden aura flared up even brighter as he screamed in pain.

'I HATE YOU!'

Goten bounced back up and unleashed what Erasa remembered as the Kamehameha wave.

Majin Buu didn't dodge Goten's attack, instead it was completely enveloped by it. As the attack passed, she saw only small pink fragments of Buu's body remained floating around. And almost immediately they started coalescing and reforming into Majin Buu's body again. That was just so unfair! Why didn't that monster just die?!

As Majin Buu struck Goten again he crashed hard into the ground and Erasa shrieked loudly.

'GOTEN!' Erasa screamed. 'Are you alright?!'

Slowly but stubbornly, Goten got back up, and his golden aura flared up once again. He unleashed a barrage of ki blasts at Buu, all the while continuing to scream. Most of Goten's blasts didn't even seem to hit Buu, his emotions hindering his focus and aim. Erasa felt heat crossing her body from Goten's blazing aura, and it was as if she could physically feel Goten's pain within her own body. His grief over Gohan's death, his anguish, his despair, and most of all his anger and hatred towards the monster that caused it all.

'Goten…' Erasa cried softly, and she felt tears running down her face. 'Just stop. You're just gonna get hurt again. You're just a little kid. You don't deserve this pain.'

She looked back down at Gohan's dead body. His Saiyaman costume was beyond recognition, his bones broken throughout his body, his skin littered with burn marks, wounds, and now also Erasa's tears. It was all just so wrong!

Goten crashed hard into the ground right next to her and Gohan. Her back got bruised from the scattering debris as she tried to cover Gohan, and as she turned around and looked at Goten she saw his little broken body in the most heart-wrenching sight possible. His little right leg was angled at an unnatural angle, as was his little left arm. His little orange gi was torn, revealing his little right arm and parts of his little chest covered in bruises. But she couldn't look away from his face. Beneath his black spiky hair (dang, he even lost Super Saiyan), his black eyes were blurry and flooded with tears, and beyond those tears she could only see his grief, his anger, his agony, his hatred. _He's just a child!_

'Goten!' Erasa cried. 'It's no use!'

Goten glared at Majin Buu with hate.

'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!' Goten screamed. Goten floated back up, his hair turned golden again, and his golden aura flared back up. 'I will get you for my big brother!'

Unable to stand on his broken leg, he stubbornly floated back up and attacked again, launching another Kamehameha wave, this time only with his right arm.

Erasa looked and saw Majin Buu reform quickly, but right before it managed to hit the injured Goten once more a golden-haired Trunks showed up and knocked Majin Buu far away.

'You mean jerk!' Trunks shouted. 'I'm not gonna let you hurt my friend any more!'

Majin Buu quickly returned. It dodged Trunks's energy blast and extended the appendage on its head, wrapping it around Trunks's foot.

'Hey!' Trunks exclaimed, right before being tossed into Goten, who was too injured to dodge. The two boys tumbled and crashed into the ground again, Majin Buu cackling and laughing sadistically as it looked down on them, and the scream of Goten as he crashed into the ground again, losing the power of Super Saiyan once again, joined Buu's noise. Erasa didn't know what was more heart-wrenching and horrible to hear, Goten's scream or Majin Buu's enjoyment of it all. It was all over. Erasa forced her eyes shut, unable to watch any more. Why couldn't Majin Buu just kill them all now? At least then it'd all be over. But even with her eyes closed she couldn't miss Goten's next scream.

'REAL HEROES NEVER GIVE UP!'

Goten's scream sounded weaker, a lot weaker than before. His body was so badly injured, so weakened. But she also felt something else in Goten's voice. Spirit, unfaltering spirit. What was she doing? Standing here doing nothing? But she couldn't help. She didn't have alien superpowers. But Goten was right. Even if they were all doomed to die, she didn't want to die like a mannequin doing nothing.

Letting Goten's willpower fill her body, Erasa opened her eyes again and looked around. And there, not too far in the distance, standing out despite the darkness of night due to its enormous size, was the dragon. The magical one, the one they were going to use to bring everyone back. She didn't remember its name, but it was still there. And Erasa started running, she ran towards the dragon like she never ran before. If Goten could fight and never give up, even though he was just a little boy with a broken body, she owed him her help in any way she could. After all, how many times had Goten saved her life today?

As Erasa arrived at the dragon she heard more cries and screams of pain from behind her, the voices of Goten and Trunks, and her heart cried out in pain for the little children. She saw Chi-Chi lying unconscious on the ground with Bulma and Ox-King tending to her, but turned away. She saw the green God who looked like a slug (what was his name again?) transfer some kind of energy to the dragon, she wasn't sure. A series of loud explosions from above startled her and knocked her on her injured back. She looked up and saw Krillin, Yamcha, and Tenshinhan deflect energy blasts that were headed to the dragon. Wincing in the pain, Erasa forced herself back up and screamed at the dragon.

'I have my wish!'

'It's about time,' the dragon mumbled.

'But Gohan said to wait…' the green slug-God objected, clearly still unaware of what happened to Gohan. Erasa ignored him.

'Please, my wish is to bring back to life all people that were killed by that Buu-monster!' Erasa screamed. 'Please, and start with Gohan!'

'Another huge wish…' the dragon mumbled, 'and after all this time…'

'You can do it,' the green slug-God said. 'I'll help you all the way by transferring my energy to you. You have the wishing power for it.'

'What you ask will take some time, but it shall be done.' The magical dragon boomed, and its eyes started glowing red again.

* * *

 **[Author's note: I'd like to thank QueenKeesie again for beta reading.]**


	46. Resurrection Reinforcements

**[Author's note: To answer the question thewittywhy asked in the reviews "So if everyone Buu killed comes back, does that mean that Goku as well?", the answer is no. Goku already died before in the fight with Raditz and was revived after that. The Earth Dragon cannot revive people that have already been revived before, so it can't include Goku in this wish. The second reason is that technically Goku was not killed by Majin Buu, he was already dead. He was killed by Cell. Although you could make an argument that technically because Goku didn't die to Buu, it wouldn't count as a resurrection and therefore Shenlong could bring him back to his 'dead but walking on Earth with a halo'-state (for lack of a better term), the wish was about reviving those killed by Buu. Bringing Goku back like that is a different wish from the one that was asked, and to bring back Goku like that, I think a lot of people would call bs on that, it's a huge stretch. Besides, this isn't Goku's story. He is the main character of Dragon Ball yes, but not of my story here. Narratively speaking, it is not his place here to save the world and be the hero.**

 **To Lord0: Yes, that scene is heavy. It's supposed to be hard and emotional. Goten does not have the power to stand up to Majin Buu, but he tries anyway. It reminds me of Gohan standing up to Recoome, even though he doesn't stand a chance. It is a brutal scene, it is supposed to be. Not because it is fun to torture Goten, it is hard to write that stuff, but to truly show how horrible of a monster Majin Buu is and how dire their situation is. Gohan is dead, Goku is dead, Vegeta is dead, Piccolo is dead, and there is no fusion option in this story either. They don't have anyone left who stands even a remote fighting chance. The magical dragon is their only option, and by having Erasa be so caught up with Goten's attempt I try to make the reader forget that the magical dragon that can bring Gohan back is right there.]**

* * *

Gohan slowly opened his eyes as he felt himself lying on a hard shaking surface. From what his father told him you ended up in the line on Snake Way after you died, but Goku'd made it sound a lot more peaceful. A loud and familiar scream broke Gohan out of his thoughts, and looking up he saw Goten and Trunks being pummelled by Majin Buu. Goten looked so weakened he couldn't even defend himself anymore! Gohan had to help him!

Feeling a huge power surge through his own body, Gohan blasted off towards Majin Buu, transforming into his Super Saiyan form as he did so. Right as Majin Buu threw Trunks into Goten, causing both children to crash into the ground, Gohen kicked Majin Buu in the face with all his power. Buu's head disintegrated into pieces, and Gohan's body kept on going. Gohan wasn't done yet. He turned around immediately and poured all his rage and anger into his most powerful Kamehameha yet, firing at the remainders of the pink monster.

Panting slightly, Gohan landed next to Goten and Trunks, and sensed their energy. They were still alive, but their ki reserves were very low. Both had gone beyond their limits, especially Goten who had gone way beyond. And as he sensed their energy, he also spread his senses around and sensed a lot more ki appearing around the world. Everywhere around the world he sensed people appearing. What was going on? He was pretty sure he had died, but he was still here. Looking around, he saw Shenlong in the distance, its eyes glowing red, and Gohan understood. The others had bailed him out once again, using Shenlong to bring him and all of Buu's other victims back to life. That meant they had no more wishes. If he messed up one more time, it was truly for good.

'G-G-Gohan.' Goten struggled.

Gohan immediately crouched down.

'Don't talk Goten, save your strength.' Gohan said worryingly, trying to reassure his brother. 'I'll take care of Buu, just stay here.'

Goten's head fell back on the ground as he lost consciousness at that moment. That evil monster had done all this! To his own little brother! Gohan angrily looked back up at Buu regenerating and blasted off towards the monster. He punched Buu's regenerating torso with a very heavy hit and followed up with a series of blasts as Buu was knocked back. Almost immediately, Buu regenerated fully and retaliated with a big streak of fire in Gohan's direction. Gohan flew above the firebreath and launched more blasts towards Buu. Buu was knocked back as Gohan's blasts pierced through its body, but its body immediately regenerated again and Buu approached quickly.

As Gohan tried to block and retaliate Buu's blow Buu wrapped its head tentacle around his wrist and attempted to toss him towards the ground. Gohan grabbed the head tentacle as the monster released him and pulled himself up, using his knee to kick Buu in its torso area. Feeling Buu's temperature rise rapidly, Gohan quickly let go of Buu and released a blast with both of his hands to gain distance and blow Buu apart. _That was way too close._

Gohan somersaulted and bounced off the ground as the once-again regenerated Majin Buu released more firebreath towards him. Gohan left after-images as he dodged Buu's attack and approached the monster rapidly from behind. Buu saw it coming however, it grabbed him with its extending arms while Gohan was behind the monster. It fully turned its head around, and released its firebreath.

Gohan quickly blasted Buu's arms to free himself and dodge Buu's attack but Buu was in hot pursuit, releasing more and more firebreath. Gohan swerved and dodged Buu's fire, but the fire started following him and closing him in. Having less and less space to manoeuvre in between the demonic flames, Gohan suddenly found an opening as something caused Buu's concentration to falter.

Escaping, Gohan saw a spherical green barrier surrounding a person he couldn't sense and Buu being knocked into the ground. As the barrier faded, Gohan saw a slim female figure a bit shorter than he was, with straight blonde hair at shoulder length.

'Lazuli!' Gohan exclaimed.

'Looks like I've got to bail you out again.' Lazuli said snidely.

'Thanks.' Gohan admitted, still sensing Buu's energy, 'but it's far from over. LOOK OUT!'

Majin Buu approached at incredible speed and Gohan blasted the monster into pieces right before it hit Lazuli. Lazuli was blown back by the force of Gohan's attack.

Majin Buu regenerated immediately and started spinning rapidly again, releasing its firebreath to form another disc of fire. Once again Gohan was stunned at how the pink monster kept all this fighting up at this intensity. Lazuli flew up next to Gohan and formed another green barrier.

'We've got to approach it from the sides, it can't change its spinning axis quickly.' Gohan said.

'Right.' Lazuli acknowledged, and inside Lazuli's barrier they manoeuvred around, but Majin Buu moved through the sky too fast for Lazuli to keep up. She was a lot slower than Gohan was. The pink monster approached rapidly, and although its fire was initially deflected by Lazuli's barrier, the monster quickly pierced the barrier physically. Gohan used the opening to blast Buu into pieces again.

* * *

Videl had spotted the golden aura of Gohan erupting again, sparking violently with blueish lighting. How did he come back to life? Videl had been certain he was dead, she hadn't felt his energy for so long while Goten had been fighting and Gohan hadn't responded at all. And now he was fighting Majin Buu again like he wasn't injured at in the slightest! Although she had wanted to help Goten, she couldn't follow any of the moves either Goten or Majin Buu made. She was of no use here whatsoever! Looking around, she spotted the enormous magical dragon in the distance, its eyes glowing red again. Of course! The dragon had revived Gohan, and was still busy granting a wish! How could she have forgotten the ridiculously oversized magical wish-granting dragon? She took off and flew towards it, staying low to the ground. Erasa, standing next to the dragon, spotted her.

'VIDEL!' Erasa screamed.

'Holy shit Erasa!' Videl screamed back, landing next to her, trying to be loud enough to be audible over the noise of Gohan's fight. 'What happened to your back?!'

Erasa shrugged, wincing in pain as she did. Videl looked around, and spotted Dende transferring some kind of energy to the dragon. As Korin saw her looking, he answered her unasked question loudly.

'He's transferring his energy to Shenlong!' Korin screamed. 'This way it can stick around long enough to grant the wish!'

'But Gohan's already back right?'

'We're reviving everyone Majin Buu killed, not just Gohan!' Erasa screamed.

How could she have forgotten that? That had been their planned wish all along! And she'd been right there with the others when they came up with that plan too! Maybe the stress was really getting to her. It had been a long day. She looked back at the fight.

'Come on Gohan!' Erasa yelled. 'Kick that monster's butt!'

Videl noticed something else in the fight, flashes of green light. Someone else had joined in.

'That's Lazuli!' Master Roshi exclaimed. 'Shenlong must have brought her back too!'

Videl watched as Gohan blasted Majin Buu into pieces again, and she recognised something in Buu's energy she'd noticed before when it was fighting Goten. Chaotic, violent energy. She could only feel it for a slim moment before the pink monster regenerated itself.

The fighting continued, with Gohan and Lazuli fighting Majin Buu. Videl couldn't follow much of it, it was all way too fast and chaotic for her, although she could see Lazuli occasionally using a green barrier to deflect Buu's firebreath.

'Lazuli's just not fast enough to keep up with Majin Buu.' Master Roshi said worried, observing the fight carefully.

'And that Buu-monster just keeps on coming back.' Videl added in frustration. 'Why isn't that monster getting tired already?'

Videl saw another streak of scattered energy blasts flying towards Shenlong. And looking up she saw a large ball of ki, from which several energy attacks scattered which targeted the various energy blasts, effectively protecting the dragon. That was close! All the while the dragon's eyes continued to glow red.

* * *

As Gohan blasted Majin Buu into pieces once again with his Kamehameha attack, he landed on the ground together with Lazuli.

'It just keeps on coming back doesn't it?' Lazuli remarked.

'It's as if it has infinite stamina or something.' Gohan groaned while panting.

Gohan sensed the energy levels around him and confirmed Goten was still alive about two-hundred metres behind him, although barely.

 _Hold on Goten! We don't have any more wishes to bring you back!_

Majin Buu reformed once again and started cackling sadistically while floating in mid-air. It was all because of that monster! That monster had blown up the entire planet and caused so much suffering, destruction, and death. Even Goten was barely hanging on! And the monster was just having fun and enjoying it all. And if Gohan didn't find a way to get rid of the pink monster once and for all…

Feeling his extreme power surge through him once more, Gohan powered up again, his golden aura crackling with lightning. In the meantime, Majin Buu rolled itself up into a cannonball again and charged at Gohan and Lazuli at high speed. Lazuli jumped out of the way quickly to dodge while Gohan held out his arms to block the monster's approach. As Majin Buu impacted Gohan's hands, Gohan felt the force of the impact travelling all the way through his body, his feet burying themselves deep within the ground.

'KAMEHAMEHA!' Gohan screamed.

Although it was not how he usually performed this attack, the blue-ish beam still erupted from Gohan's hands, enveloping Majin Buu at extremely close range. Majin Buu was blown back, but Gohan did not slow down his attack. All he could think about was destroying Buu. He had to. There was no other option.

 _Even more!_

Gohan ramped up his attack further, pouring even more power into his attack. Gohan didn't know how Buu was handling his attack, whether the pink monster was still alive or not. The immense energy he was putting out was drowning out any energy signal he might've sensed from the pink monster were it still there. All he knew was that he had to keep this up. This was Majin Buu after all, if he failed to completely annihilate the monster it'd just come back again. His feet buried themselves deeper and deeper into the ground as the weight of his Kamehameha attack was growing even more immense.

* * *

Videl could clearly see Gohan's bright blast hitting Majin Buu from close range. The ground started shaking violently and an incredibly strong wind picked up. Videl spotted Erasa getting blown away in front of her, and she barely managed to grab her best friend's wrist. Erasa was screaming incoherently, only having Videl to hold on to just to not get blown away. Videl summoned her ki in an effort to stabilise herself, otherwise she'd get blown away too. Videl then sensed Gohan's blast pick up even more power. The ground started shaking worse than ever and it was almost impossible to keep her eyes open in the hurricane winds, not that she could see a lot with Gohan's attack being blindingly bright. Videl remembered Gohan using some kind of ki shield when they were at Korin's place to protect them, a technique she obviously didn't have a clue on how to perform. Holding on to Erasa became harder and harder as Gohan kept on increasing his power. The ground shaking became heavier and heavier, and when the wind suddenly changed direction Videl was thrown off-balance and Erasa's wrist slipped from her hand.

Videl clearly heard Erasa's desperate scream as she was blown into the sky and disappeared in the distance.

'ERASA!' Videl screamed, and she immediately flew off after her.

She needed all her concentration and ki to keep her balance in these winds, but as she flew in the direction she'd seen Erasa disappear to Videl didn't see her best friend anywhere. The incredible brightness of Gohan's attack was off-putting and made it hard to see in the pitch-black darkness of the night.

ERASA!' Videl screamed again, looking around desperately. She couldn't be… her best friend… not after everything they'd gone through today…

'ERASA!' Videl screamed. 'WHERE ARE YOU?!'

Gohan's attack faded out and Videl looked back at Gohan. He wasn't that hard to see now, his golden aura sparking with lightning stood out sharply in the dark night, and even from this distance she could see him panting. The air calmed down. Videl didn't see Majin Buu anywhere. Good. Hopefully that monster was finally gone. But where was Erasa?

'ERASA!' Videl screamed for a fourth time, looking around desperately.

'VIDEL!' Erasa screamed from the right of Videl. 'I'm right here! I'm okay!'

Videl turned, confused as to how Erasa could be up here in the air. Still somewhat blind in the darkness due to Gohan's incredibly bright attack, Videl lit up a small ki ball in her hand to produce some light. As she did so, she saw Erasa indeed in the middle of the sky, looking incredibly relieved but also still terrified, sitting on top of that weird golden cloud she'd used earlier today. She was okay!

'Erasa!' Videl screamed again, pulling her best friend into a tight hug while her ki ball faded.

'Videl!' Erasa muffled. 'That hurts!'

Videl released Erasa and glanced back at the magical golden cloud.

'As I was flying I was screaming for you and for Gohan and for any kind of saviour and then this cloud suddenly showed up and caught me!' Erasa tried to explain. 'I don't know how or why but it's not the first time it saved me either.'

Videl didn't understand it either. But at least Erasa was safe. They were then both startled by a booming voice behind and above them.

'Your wish has been granted! My work here is done!'

The two girls barely managed to catch a glimpse of the magical dragon before it vanished into thin air, without even saying goodbye.

'Let's go!' Videl said, and Erasa nodded.

They flew back down to the others as the seven Dragon Balls rose high into the air, before scattering off at high speed into the distance. Stars suddenly appeared again in the night sky, where had they been before?

As Videl landed next to the others and Erasa jumped off the magical cloud Dende also landed. He was panting heavily and sweat was dripping down his body.

'Hold still, I'll heal you.' Dende said noticing Erasa's injuries.

'You can do that?' Erasa wondered.

'Helping Shenlong took me a lot of energy but I still have some left, I'll be fine.' Dende dismissed.

'WAIT!' Erasa exclaimed, startling Dende. 'Help Goten first, he's in much worse shape than me! He should be over there somewhere!' Erasa called out, pointing.

Dende looked in the direction Erasa was pointing, nodded, and flew off towards Goten's crippled body.

'You sure you're all right?' Videl asked Erasa. 'Your back's injured, and you've got those burns on your arms…'

Erasa winced, clearly feeling the injuries again as Videl mentioned them.

'I… I don't know.' Erasa admitted. 'I… I'm sorry, I'm such a crybaby.'

'Nah, crybabies wouldn't have sent Dende to help Goten.' Videl replied.


	47. The Very Last Chance

As Gohan's attack faded he was panting heavily. That was the most powerful attack he'd ever launched, Gohan was sure of that. His entire body was aching and protesting. He looked around, trying to find traces of Majin Buu remaining. Was it actually gone? Was it actually over? That'd be amazing. But how would he know for sure? Gohan heard Shenlong make its announcement. The second wish was granted. The Dragon Balls floated up into the now star-lit sky, and scattered in all directions across the Earth. Were the others okay? Gohan tried to sense the others. He sensed Bulma, Master Roshi, his mother, his grandfather, Videl, Erasa, Krillin, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, Korin, and he sensed Dende moving in the direction of Goten.

 _Dende's going to heal Goten!_

Relieved, Gohan jumped to Goten's body as well and arrived at the same time.

'Are you okay?' Gohan asked Dende, noticing how weak Dende's ki felt.

'I should ask you that.' Dende replied as he spread his hands over Goten and started his healing process. 'Keeping Shenlong around for so long took a lot of energy, but I'll recover. A good night rest and I'll be all new.'

Gohan looked around again. Was Majin Buu really gone? He noticed Dende's ki getting even weaker as he was healing Goten.

'Are you sure?' Gohan insisted. 'Your ki is weakening.'

'Healing costs me a bit of energy, but I'll be fine. Your brother is in a much worse shape.'

Goten slowly opened his eyes again.

'Goten!' Gohan exclaimed. 'How are you feeling?'

'Huh?' Goten looked confused. 'I feel great. It doesn't hurt anymore! But I thought you were hurt too! How did you get back up?'

Gohan wrapped his little brother in a hug.

'I'm a bit tired but I'm fine now Goten!'

Dende was panting heavily now, Gohan noticed his ki was incredibly weak.

'I see Trunks lying over there too.' Dende said. 'I'll take care of him.'

Dende flew towards where Trunks's crippled body lay.

'I'm so happy you're okay.' Gohan cried emotionally to Goten.

'Hey Gohan…' Goten started. 'What happened to that mean pink monster?'

'I… I'm not sure.' Gohan admitted. Had his last attack been enough to finish it off? Or would it pop up again, regenerated as if nothing happened at all? He tried to sense for Majin Buu's incomplete ki, concentrating.

'It's still there!' Gohan exclaimed. Why couldn't that monster just die already? He looked in the direction and saw the pink material coalescing and reforming Buu.

Goten groaned.

'I hate that stupid monster. It's really mean!'

'You're right.' Gohan said. 'It's the meanest monster ever.'

'What's it doing?'

Gohan looked. Majin Buu was charging up some kind of purple ki-based attack, and it was gathering a lot of energy. No, it wasn't just a lot. It was more than enough to blow up the entire planet. Way more than enough.

'Oh no.' Gohan said. 'I've got to stop it!'

Gohan joined his hands together and flared up his power. Lightning erupted in his golden aura again.

'KA…'

'ME…'

'HA…'

'ME…'

Blueish light formed in Gohan's hands as he built up more power, and Goten looked scared at seeing Gohan so serious.

'HA!'

Gohan unleashed his attack right after Majin Buu released its attack aiming downwards. The two attacks collided and Gohan immediately felt the immense weight of Buu's attack. Buu's attack was slowly pushing Gohan's attack downwards. Darn it, how strong was this monster? It was as if it was even stronger than before.

'Goten!' Gohan screamed. 'Get out of here!'

'NO!' Goten screamed back, and he transformed into a Super Saiyan. 'I'll fight with you!'

'KAMEHAMEHA!' Gotan screamed, his blueish attack joining Gohan's much larger one.

Krillin, Yamcha, and Tenshinhan joined them.

'Let him help!' Krillin screamed to Gohan. 'If that thing hits the ground we're all goners anyway!'

Gohan didn't reply as Krillin, Tenshinhan, and Yamcha also launched their Kamehameha attacks to hold back Buu's blast. And together they stopped Buu's attack, the point of collision staying at the same place. The ground was shaking and tearing as it couldn't support the weight of the violence. Gohan sensed Buu power up its attack even further, and their combined Kamehameha attack was slowly being pushed down again.

* * *

Videl meanwhile was watching at the extraordinary violence being displayed. Lazuli had erected a green barrier which was protecting her, Erasa, Gohan's mom, Gohan's grandfather, Bulma, Master Roshi, and Korin.

'Where does it get all the power from?' Korin asked. 'It's fighting two Super Saiyans including Gohan and three others at the same time and actually overpowering all of them together.'

Videl sensed the difference in power. It wasn't much compared to how much power was being put out, but still vastly more than she could ever compensate for. She was completely useless here!

'Isn't there anything we can do?' Erasa asked in frustration.

'I'm afraid not.' Master Roshi replied.

'Look!' Korin exclaimed. 'Trunks is back up!'

'Where?!' Bulma screamed. 'Where's Trunks?!'

Korin pointed and Videl looked. Dende looked beyond exhaustion and collapsed on the shaking ground, while Trunks looked fresh again. Trunks flew towards Gohan and the others, transformed into a Super Saiyan, and joined in on their attack.

'Oh Trunks…' Bulma said worried. 'You're just like your father…'

Despite Trunks joining in it didn't seem to change much: Buu's attack continued to push down. And Trunks was a lot stronger than Videl was.

'I'll grab Dende!' Korin declared. 'NIMBUS!'

A golden cloud, similar to the one Erasa had been using, appeared from the sky. Korin hopped on and sped towards Dende. Apparently even Korin could be useful. Why was Videl even here?

Videl looked back at Gohan and the others fighting Majin Buu, the latter's attack still slowly pushing down. Something snapped within her. She was Videl! She wasn't going to just stand by while the world was in danger! She'd promised Gohan she'd help! And she had an idea! Videl took off and flew around Lazuli's barrier, heading in Majin Buu's direction.

'Videl NO!' Master Roshi screamed. 'You'll get yourself killed!'

Ignoring Master Roshi, she flew around Lazuli's barrier and immediately felt the full force of the energy battle. The wind was turbulent and chaotic and pushing her around in random directions. The noise was deafening. Videl focused and forced herself to remain stable as she approached Majin Buu from behind. When she was about seventy metres somewhat behind the pink monster yet staying out of the firing path of Gohan and the others, she tried to aim, but it wasn't easy in this wind. The blinding brightness of Gohan's and Buu's energy attacks contrasted sharply with the night-time surroundings, making it hard to see clearly. Regardless, she focused her energy as best as she could and aimed for Majin Buu's neck. She gathered her ki in her hands, building up an attack, and fired.

Videl looked as her energy blast pierced through Majin Buu's stomach area. Videl swore. Just great, missing at such a crucial moment! Great job Videl!

While continuing to power its energy attack towards Gohan and the others and regenerating its torso, the pink monster eerily twisted its neck around and glared at Videl. It cackled and screamed, and Videl suddenly felt an enormous gust of wind, a huge pressure, push her away from Buu. She started tumbling and spinning rapidly, she didn't know which way was up or down any more, and with an incredibly painful landing she crashed into the shaking ground.

* * *

Gohan had spotted Videl from the corner of his eye, and saw her get blown away by Buu's kiai. That monster had hurt her! It'd hurt her!

'RYAAAAAA!' Gohan screamed, channelling all of his power into his attack. The ground tore open and their group sunk even deeper. Gohan's entire body was painfully protesting against his reckless use of energy, but Gohan refused to listen to it. That monster had to be stopped, and it had to be stopped right now. Buu's purple energy attack stopped advancing on their combined attack, and slowly but surely they started to push back.

'GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT!' Gohan screamed to all of them, and each of them managed to push even further.

Majin Buu also screamed and powered up even more. Did that monster even have a limit or what? Majin Buu managed to stop their advancement and its attack slowly started to push back again. Was this all just a game for that monster? Now what? Maybe he could push a bit further in a burst, but that wouldn't be enough to push it all the way and overpower Buu, let alone kill the monster. And Gohan knew he couldn't keep this up for long, none of them could. Sooner rather than later they'd run out of stamina and Buu would overpower them.

'DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP!' Krillin screamed.

Lightning was dancing and cracking around their combined aura, which had traces of white from Krillin, Tenshinhan, and Yamcha, and a much more powerful gold from the three Super Saiyans. Slowly but surely the purple attack advanced closer and closer to them.

* * *

Videl was lying on the ground, crippled. Damn it! How could she have missed?! She really was useless here. She tried to feel her body, and to her own horror realised she didn't feel her body any more, apart from her head which was aching like mad. She tried to move, but her body wasn't responding. Casting her eyes down, she immediately wished she hadn't looked. She saw her body in a ruined state. She was heavily bleeding from her left leg, both of her legs were broken, her arms were broken, her ribs were broken, and she couldn't feel her ki any more. She was paralysed from the neck down. Maybe that wasn't so bad, Videl was sure that it'd have hurt a lot more if she'd been able to feel the rest of her body too, even though her head hurt so much she couldn't fathom how anything could possibly hurt more than what she was feeling now. And why wouldn't that blasted ground stop shaking and ramming against her head?! Damn it all!

'VIDEL!'

Videl couldn't turn her head, but she recognised that voice. Erasa! What was she doing here?!

Erasa's golden cloud floated into Videl's view and Erasa hopped off, almost falling over due to the shaking ground, but the cloud quickly floated behind her and caught her back.

'HOLY SHIT VIDEL! What the hell were you thinking? You look like the most horrifying horror movie survivor in the history of horror movies!'

Great. Like she needed Erasa to tell her how stupid and reckless she was. Like she wasn't feeling bad enough already. Videl cast her eyes down again, away from Erasa, and spotted a bulge in her pocket.

'E…E…' Videl stammered, remembering the contents of her pocket. 'Erasa…'

'Oh Videl…' Erasa cried out in agony. 'Don't go die on me here! Come on! I don't know what I'd do without you!'

'E…Erasa…' Videl stammered again. She had to find the strength to tell Erasa, even with this stupid ground shaking and ramming against her head. 'P…Po…'

'Don't talk Videl!' Erasa cried out. 'Save your strength please!'

'Po…pocket… pocket.' Videl stammered, using all her strength to try and make her works audible over the noise that Gohan and the others were making.

'Pocket?' Erasa questioned. Videl glared at Erasa. She tried with all her willpower to make Erasa understand, trying to convert her pure willpower into communication. Erasa looked at Videl's pocket and reached out, feeling. From Videl's pocket Erasa retrieved a small pouch.

'The Senzu!' Erasa exclaimed, remembering. Erasa took out the last Senzu from the pouch and fed it to Videl.

'Here ya go. Please let this one be enough! It's the last one ya got!'

As Videl ate, she suddenly felt the rest of her body again. And she screamed, loudly. Erasa flinched and was promptly caught by the golden cloud again. Damn it, the pain was even worse than before. Even worse than when that stupid red monster had pierced her stomach, even worse than when she lay paralysed on the ground. Now she felt the pain throughout her entire body. But very quickly that pain started to lessen, it decreased and decreased until it was completely gone.

Videl stood back up. She was back up! She had her energy back!

'Holy shit. That's some crazy wonder stuff!' Erasa screamed, and she then suddenly launched herself at Videl, pulling her into a tight hug while crying. 'I was sooo scared! I thought you were gonna DIE! How're you feeling now? You sure you're okay now?!'

'Oddly full, like I've eaten too much, but other than that fine.' Videl replied, before the inescapable violence surrounding them reminded her of their current situation.

Videl forced herself out of Erasa's embrace.

'Videl?' Erasa questioned, looking terrified and confused at her while Videl turned her gaze to the fight between Majin Buu above and Gohan and the others on the shaking ground. Suddenly Erasa realised what Videl was about to do.

'VIDEL DON'T!' Erasa screamed. 'YOU ALMOST DIED OUT THERE! AND THAT WAS YOUR LAST ONE!'

'I have to do this Erasa.' Videl said determined. 'I promised Gohan. I told him I'd help him if he went to fight that monster.'

'But what can you do out there?' Erasa screamed desperately. 'That blow must've knocked your brains out! You're INSANE!'

'Stay here.' Videl ordered, and she took off. She didn't have time to explain to Erasa. The world was at stake. Somehow she just knew that she had to do this.

'DAMN IT VIDEL!' Erasa screamed. 'IF YOU DIE OUT THERE I'M NEVER GONNA FORGIVE YOU!'

Wincing at making Erasa feel so distressed, Videl flew towards Majin Buu. The monster seemed far too pre-occupied with its battle with Gohan to notice her. Good. She was about forty metres from the monster now. She had to focus. It was almost impossible with all the crazy violence going on around her, and the energy Gohan and Buu were putting out was mind-boggling. Last time she missed. The turbulence was insane and shaking her entire body, and it was still hard to see. How could she possibly aim like this?

'Darn it!' Videl exclaimed. If she missed again the pink monster would wreck her again, and there were no more Senzu to patch her back up. Dende was down already too. No more magical wishes, no more magical healing. They'd gone through all their spares and reserves. She had to hit this.

'Don't aim with your eyes.'

'Huh?' Videl looked around to the source of that voice in her head. That sounded like Korin.

'Listen to me Videl.' Korin said. 'Feel out the energy you want to hit, sense out the ki. Then guide your own attack towards that ki. That is how you aim.'

'But… how?' Videl looked around confused.

'Don't you have something more important to do than wondering about how I'm doing this?!' Korin suddenly exclaimed in her head.

'Oh right.' Videl replied. She closed her eyes and tried to relax, like Gohan'd taught her. She knew where the pink monster was. She formed her own ki attack. She guided more and more of her ki into her attack. It was pathetic compared to what everybody else was putting out, but for her it was as much as she could control. All the while trying to feel out that specific portion of Majin Buu's energy. She felt the monster's attack getting very close to Gohan and the others. She was running out of time. She had to look higher, closer to Buu. And then she felt it. There. That tiny hint of chaos.

Videl fired, using all her willpower to guide her attack to that chaos. This had to work. She felt her attack getting closer, and closer still. And then, she felt it made contact.

* * *

Gohan was struggling heavily. Majin Buu's attack was coming closer and closer. But he wouldn't give up. He kept his attack up. Everybody did. And then he suddenly sensed something. A disturbance. Majin Buu had lost focus somehow. Its attack weakened. Although Gohan didn't know what was going on, he knew one thing. This was their one and only chance.

'NOW!' Gohan screamed. 'ALL MY POWER AT ONCE! ALL OF US!'

Gohan forced all of his energy out at once, amplifying his attack significantly in a burst. He also sensed the others do the same thing.

'HYAAAAA!' Goten screamed.

Their combined blue Kamehameha wave brightened significantly and started sparking violently with lightning. It swept away Majin Buu's now unfocused attack, completely enveloping the pink monster, and flew off into space.

Gohan was spent. He lost his Super Saiyan transformation, turning back into his regular form. He struggled to keep consciousness and collapsed on the ground.

…

'Gohan!'

Lying on the ground, he opened his eyes again. He saw Videl, Erasa, and his mother all hunched over him.

'Did we do it?' Gohan asked hazily. 'Is Majin Buu gone?'

Gohan couldn't sense the monster's energy signal any more. But they hadn't been able to after his father's fight either. How could they be sure?

'Are you okay Gohan?' His mother exclaimed hysterically, pulling him into a tight hug while he was still lying down. 'Don't ever do that again, you two had me so worried!'

'I'm sorry mom.' Gohan said quietly. 'I didn't mean to make you worry.'

'Is Goten okay?' Gohan asked.

'I'm okay Gohan.' Goten's voice sounded. 'But Gohan…'

'What is it?'

'I'm sorry.' Goten said remorsefully. 'I did the Kamehameha as a Super Saiyan… and I know you said I couldn't…'

Gohan smiled.

'It's okay Goten. I'm just so glad you're all right!'

'So is that monster really gone now?' Erasa asked. 'It kept on coming back all the time…'

'I hope so.' Gohan replied. 'I don't want to see that monster ever again. But I don't know how we can know for sure…'

At that moment another voice appeared in their heads.

'Good news everyone!' North Kai's voice said. 'We just received word from Enma's. Majin Buu's soul just went through judgement. This means that Majin Buu is truly dead now. I don't know how you guys did it and why your planet is suddenly there again, but you did it.'

'We did it.' Gohan quietly repeated, before breaking into a smile. 'We did it! It's finally over!'

'I think I finally went crazy.' Erasa said with a panicked look. 'Guys, I'm hearing a voice in my head!'

'You've always been crazy Erasa.' Videl said matter-of-factly.

'I'm serious Videl!'

'I heard a voice too!' Goten exclaimed. 'Does that mean I'm crazy too?'

'I was talking to all of you!' North Kai exclaimed in their heads. 'I'm North Kai, not some figment of your imagination! Although if you ask me all of you guys are pretty crazy.'

They were interrupted by a loud rumbling noise coming from Goten.

'I think it's time for dinner.' Bulma announced, and she uncapsuled her airplane.

* * *

 **[Author's note: That's it. Buu is finally gone. There will be one more chapter in this story to tie everything up, and then I'll mark this story as complete. The battling is over now. I hope you'll stick around for that final chapter, I'm hoping to get it up before Christmas, but no promises. I also hope you enjoyed this final battle. Let me know in the reviews what you think.]**


	48. Heroes' Legacy

Everybody was seated at a table covered with food Bulma had produced from her airplane. Lazuli was a notable absentee though, she had flown off to the lookout to get Marron; apparently she'd left her there with Mr. Popo after they were resurrected. Goten and Trunks were here, and eating like their life depended on it. Most others were also having their fair share of food. Videl hadn't eaten anything however.

'Aren't you hungry?' Erasa asked, turning to Videl.

'No, I'm oddly full.' Videl replied sheepishly. 'I feel like I'd get sick if I'd eat now, I don't know why.'

'Senzu will do that to ya.' Korin said. 'One of those is enough to fill you up for ten days.'

'I'd say that's impossible for such a tiny bean, but after seeing how much it healed you that doesn't even seem that strange anymore.' Erasa remarked.

Videl noticed that Dende also wasn't eating.

'Aren't you hungry?' Videl asked him. 'You didn't get a Senzu did you?'

'I do not need to eat. All I need is water.'

'So what actually happened?' Krillin said. 'I was sure we were losing to Buu, but then it lost power or something, it started slipping.'

'I don't know.' Gohan said. 'But I'm sure glad it happened.'

Videl and Korin glanced at each other, and Korin nodded to Videl.

'I hit it.' Videl stated.

Gohan and Krillin stared blankly to her.

'How could you possibly…?' Krillin started.

'While it was busy fighting you guys I hit it on that Kaio-Ken energy it still had inside itself.' Videl clarified. 'When it was fighting you all earlier and you kept on blasting it apart I'd noticed that it was inside its neck. After a while I started feeling it, every time you blew it apart.'

'Wow.' Gohan said stunned. 'I never felt that at all.'

'I reckon you were a bit too distracted by the fight, you never had the time to concentrate on that.' Korin said simply.

'But still, how would you hitting it have such an influence on Buu?' Krillin asked. 'No offence, but I don't think you're that strong compared to us.'

Videl still wasn't entirely sure of that herself, but she had a theory.

'I think Buu was a very fragile monster.' Videl said. 'Even when Goten was blasting it it kept on falling apart. Its regeneration was the only thing that kept it going. And I remembered that when the Kaio-Ken energy was triggered after Gohan's dad and Vegeta had fought that monster it was ripping that monster apart, I think North Kai even said that its regeneration couldn't keep up. So I thought that if we could trigger that state again, but while it couldn't focus on containing it as much because it was fighting you guys, it might work. And its body structure was so weak even my blast could pierce its skin to reach it.'

'So our blast together with its focus and regeneration being tampered by you triggering the Kaio-Ken energy was what ultimately killed it.' Krillin said. 'That's incredible, to think up that plan with everything that was going on. Especially considering how recently you've started learning about your ki.'

Videl turned back to Korin.

'But I still don't get why I suddenly heard your voice in my head when I was trying to aim.' Videl stated.

'Hey, I wouldn't be much of an old hermit master if I didn't know a little bit of telepathy now would I?' Korin simply said.

'Uhh, I don't know.' Videl said honestly. 'Do you know how to do that Gohan?'

'No, I never learned that.' Gohan replied.

'Gohan is not an old hermit master, he's still a young lad.' Korin said.

'What is telethingy?' Goten asked surprisingly audible with his mouth full.

'Goten! What did I tell you about speaking with food in your mouth?' Chi-Chi scolded. 'Don't forget you're still grounded mister.'

'But you're a cat. How old can you be?' Erasa wondered out loud.

'Don't you know it's rude to ask others their age?' Korin rebutted.

'Only if they're female.' Erasa said matter-of-factly.

'I really can't get a grip on your mind. Your thoughts are a chaotic mess.' Korin said. 'Anyway, if you must know, I'm eight-hundred-something. You lose count after a while, and they hadn't come up with our current calendar system yet when I was born.'

'No way!' Erasa exclaimed. 'Cats shouldn't become older than, like, twenty years old or something!'

'A bit more respect for your elders if you may.' Korin said. 'And really, after everything you've been through today you're sceptical to the eight-hundred-year-old talking hermit cat?'

'So, are you an alien too?' Erasa persisted.

Korin turned to Videl.

'Does she ever stop?'

'Nope.'

Chuckling inwards at Erasa's insanity, Videl glanced at Gohan, who looked a bit downtrodden, but before Videl had a chance to wonder about him, her phone started ringing. Glancing at the screen, she saw it was her father calling. She immediately felt angry again. Did he still not understand she didn't want anything to do with him any more? Should she even answer it?

'Courageous enough to fight Buu, but scared of your own father?' Korin's voice suddenly wondered in her mind.

When Videl quickly looked at Korin all she saw was him trying to deal with Erasa asking him how he learned to talk. Weird. But maybe Korin was right. Videl pressed the green button on her screen to answer the call.

'Hello?'

'Videl!' Mr. Satan immediately called out. 'How are you doing? Are you alright?'

'I'm fine.' Videl said curtly. 'We're just having dinner now.'

'What about that monster, the one you guys were trying to fight?'

'Buu is gone, it's dead.'

'That's amazing Videl!' Mr. Satan said relieved. 'So what exactly happened? It's been crazy here, it was like we all died, but then we were all back again, and apparently West City is suddenly all new again. Nobody understands what's going on, the press has been hounding me for answers.'

'What story did you tell them?' Videl asked in suspicion.

'I didn't tell them anything!' Mr. Satan immediately replied defensively. 'I didn't have a clue what was going on. And I didn't want to make the same mistake I made seven years ago…'

Videl was silent for a moment. She didn't know what to tell him. How would she even begin to explain what had really happened? That the Earth had actually been destroyed by Majin Buu, but they'd escaped through a different forbidden dimension, used a magical wish-granting dragon to bring everything back, eventually killed Buu, and revived all the victims using the same magical wish-granting dragon? It was an insane story. Who'd ever believe that?

'It's a long story.' Videl said.

'I can't just tell the press that!' Mr. Satan exclaimed. 'They'll never settle with "It's a long story", that'll just make them more persistent.'

Videl glanced at Gohan again, who still looked downtrodden while he ate, a bit isolated emotionally from the rest. Gohan had saved the world. Sure, she'd helped, but all she'd done was give Gohan a Senzu when he was down and shoot Buu from behind. Gohan's power had been vital, without his power Buu wouldn't have died, it'd just have gone out of control like before. Videl remembered the anger she'd felt earlier that day when she found out Gohan had lied to her about Cell. With her anger subdued now, Videl realised that Gohan never wanted the attention. Videl's father always received loads of attention from the media for the supposed killing of Cell. Gohan wasn't the kind of person to appreciate the attention that came from the press. He still should have told her though. But she found it difficult to stay angry with him.

That still left the issue of what to tell her dad. Should he take the credit to spare Gohan from all that attention? Videl felt like vomiting at the idea. Her father didn't deserve all the wealth and fame that came from that. But saying Gohan saved the world would cause the press to hound him. It'd be like betraying his trust. She'd promised him she'd keep his powers a secret. Well, now that she thought about it, she didn't promise exactly that. She promised that she'd keep his Saiyaman identity secret. But that was just semantics, it'd still break the spirit of her promise, and that was just as bad.

 _Wait a minute. His Saiyaman identity! That's the answer!_

'Tell them…' Videl started. 'That I, alongside a couple of other fighters that prefer to stay anonymous, helped the Great Saiyaman to save the world by destroying Majin Buu.'

'The Great what?' Mr. Satan stumbled.

'The Great Saiyaman.' Videl repeated. 'He also entered the tournament, I fought him in my second match.'

'Wasn't that the boy who also killed Cell?' Mr. Satan asked. 'What was his name again, Go-something?'

'Gohan!' Videl exclaimed annoyed, causing Gohan to look at her wondering why she was calling him. 'And yes, he was. But don't tell his real name to the press. Only call him the Great Saiyaman.'

'All right, I'll tell them that.' Mr. Satan said. 'So you, the Great Saiyaman, and a couple of other fighters defeated the monster together. I'm guessing those other fighters are the other people that disappeared at the Tournament.'

Videl groaned. Of course even if they didn't mention the name of Krillin and Tenshinhan and the others the press wouldn't have any problem connecting the dots, they all left the Tournament together.

'Yes…'

'Don't worry about it.' Krillin said to Videl. 'We'll manage somehow.'

'And what about when everybody died and came back?' Mr. Satan asked.

Videl didn't know how to explain that one. And Bulma also made a gesture to her that Videl interpreted as "let's keep that between us".

'I don't know how to explain…' Videl said eventually. 'And it'd probably be best if people didn't know. Can't you just chalk it up to a miracle?'

'Okay, I'll see what I can do.' Mr. Satan replied. He then paused for a moment before hesitatingly continuing. 'Now that the world is safe again, when are you coming home? Should I send a plane to pick you up or do you have your own plane with you?'

The nerve! She was already giving him way more than he deserved by having this conversation with him, and now he was expecting everything to be fine again between them?

'I can fly myself now.' Videl said stubbornly. 'And didn't I tell you I don't want to see you again?'

'I… I know.' Mr. Satan replied hesitantly. 'I just hoped, maybe that you'd cooled down a bit by now…'

'You lied to me for years!' Videl called out angrily, before hanging up her phone and turning it off in fury.

Everybody at the table was silent as the atmosphere was filled with awkward tension. Nobody knew how to respond to that. Except Goten and Trunks, who were still eating like crazy and appeared to have missed her episode entirely. Eventually Erasa spoke up.

'So, what're you going to do? If you can't live with your dad any more.'

'I don't know.' Videl admitted. 'Can I stay at your place till I think of something better?'

'I guess. Just don't take too long or my parents will get upset. They're fond of you but you're not family.'

Videl didn't want to think about the future at that point. She was tired, she'd been through enough that day. Even though the Senzu had restored her body, she was still exhausted mentally.

'You know…' Chi-Chi spoke up, quickly glancing at Gohan. 'You're always welcome at our place Videl.'

'Thank you for the offer Chi-Chi.' Videl replied. 'But I think I'd rather stay at Erasa's house. It's closer to school and I know her better.'

Chi-Chi looked disappointed at her answer and glanced at Gohan again, who looked a bit downtrodden. Videl suddenly realised something, and she poked Erasa next to her.

'What's up?' Erasa asked.

'Do you think Gohan's mom was trying to set me up with Gohan?' Videl whispered.

'You only now realised it?' Erasa whispered back. 'Geez Videl, she's been trying to hook us both up with him since lunch. Didn't you realise she insisted we sat with them while they didn't even lunch together with their friends? And then when she started bragging about Gohan beating Cell?'

Videl thought for a moment. What Erasa said made sense. Videl glanced at Gohan again. He looked a bit absent, he wasn't talking to anyone, just silently eating his food.

'You think Gohan asked her to?' Videl whispered to Erasa. Maybe her refusal was what bothered him. Did Gohan actually have feelings for her? She didn't really know, she was terrible at reading these things.

'Don't think so.' Erasa whispered. 'Gohan wouldn't dare. I'm sure it's all his mom's doing.'

'But look at him.' Videl whispered. 'He looks upset, you think he wanted me to come live with him?'

'I don't know, he was already a bit off before this came up.' Erasa whispered, before continuing in a silent teasing tone. 'That doesn't mean he doesn't like you though. I can ask him if you want.'

'Stop it, don't you dare.' Videl whispered in a small panic, while Korin started sniggering.

'Stop eavesdropping on private conversations!' Videl scolded at the cat, who quickly continued eating as if nothing happened.

'Huh, what happened?' Krillin asked.

'What's up Gohan?' Erasa asked loudly, obviously trying to shift attention away from their earlier conversation. 'Aren't you happy that Buu monster's gone?'

'It's not that.' Gohan replied solemnly. 'It's what it took. My father lost his body, and Piccolo is still gone.'

'Oh.' Erasa said quietly. 'Why didn't your dad come back with the wish like you?'

Gohan shook his head.

'The dragon can't revive people that were revived before. He was already revived once.'

'Oh, uhh, I'm sorry.' Erasa said awkwardly. 'You can uhh always talk to me about it if you want.'

Gohan smiled faintly at Erasa, but didn't reply.

Videl didn't know what to say either. What do you say to someone who just lost their father? And to make matters more complicated, a father who had already been dead before today, but came back somehow while dead and then died again and lost his body?

'Maybe we need a bit of a distraction.' Bulma said. She took out a button and pressed it, causing a screen to descend from the ceiling.

'Is there anything this airplane doesn't have?' Videl wondered out loud.

Bulma chuckled.

'There's always stuff you're still missing, even when you've got capsulized hospitals on board.' Bulma said simply, before continuing when seeing Videl's crazed face. 'Oh right, you weren't there with us for that.'

Bulma turned on the screen. The news was showing.

'We still have no explanation for the mysterious events that have happened today.' The man in the studio was saying. 'For those of you who have been living under a rock the size of a mountain, earlier today an extreme explosion was measured in the western continent. Later on, West City was reportedly under attack by a strange pink creature which killed a lot of its residents. However, those claims are now being refuted. We here at ZTV have confirmed that West City is still intact and its residents are breathing and living, although most of them are convinced that they were in fact attacked and killed by the mysterious pink creature. We also have all experienced a strange sensation as if dying, but then waking up. Some claim it was a worldwide state of hypnosis, caused by mysterious technology or even aliens, new weapons that are being tested. What weapons these could be is still anybody's guess however.'

Bulma sighed at their weird theory, while the news reporter continued.

'We also have reports of people being mysteriously missing after the incident. Specifically, large portions of the population of Ginger Town, Nicky Town, and several cities and towns within that area have gone missing, as well as a significant portion of the population of Central City. We do not have any official estimation as to how many people are missing. We will keep you updated.'

'Wait a minute…' Bulma said slowly. 'Ginger Town, Nicky Town…'

The names were also familiar to Videl, although she couldn't recall exactly where she heard that combination before.

'Weren't those the places Cell attacked?' Bulma realised. 'Oh no…'

'What do you mean?' Erasa shrieked. 'Cell can't be back right?!'

'No, Cell isn't back.' Bulma said solemnly. 'But after Cell was destroyed, the Dragon Balls were used to bring back all the people it killed. But when Majin Buu destroyed the Earth, everybody on the planet died.'

'But we brought back everybody with the wish right?' Erasa cried out. 'I told the dragon to bring back everyone killed by that Buu-monster!'

'Shenlong can't bring back people resurrected before.' Bulma said sadly. 'So everybody who was killed by Cell back then, none of those people were revived today, because they were already revived back then.'

'But Central City was never attacked by Cell!' Videl realised. 'What's going on there?'

'King Piccolo.' Tenshinhan said quietly. 'I remember King Piccolo destroyed a lot of Central City back when we fought him. Well, it was mostly Goku fighting him. And Piccolo's victims were wished back too.'

'Isn't there anything we can do?!' Videl called out.

'I'm afraid not.' Dende said. 'It's just the way the Dragon Balls work here. All we can do is mourn and move on. It is part of life to eventually pass away. You can't postpone that forever.'

They were interrupted again by the news program.

'In a recent development, we have apparently obtained some answers from public figure and destroyer of Cell Mr. Satan.'

The screen switched to footage of Mr. Satan standing outside his house, being interviewed.

'Mr. Satan, do you have any answers to what has been happening today?'

'I just had contact with my daughter.' Mr. Satan replied. 'And according to her the world was attacked by an evil monster, even stronger than Cell.'

'An evil monster stronger than Cell?!' The interviewer exclaimed. 'What kind of monster? Where did it come from?'

'I'm not sure, but you don't need to worry.' Mr. Satan said quickly. 'As you know, my daughter is immensely strong. She, together with that new hero, the Great Saiyaman, managed to defeat that monster. The world is safe again.'

'Was this the same monster that allegedly attacked West City?'

'Yes, from what I understand it was.'

'Why didn't you go and help out to fight that monster Mr. Satan?'

'Well uhmm, I wasn't really aware of what was going on. And I'm getting quite old. Videl is getting so strong, I didn't stand a chance against her today at the Tournament. I think it was probably for the best that she was there instead of me.'

Videl grumbled. She wasn't really sure what she expected. At least he was telling the media what she told him to tell instead of taking credit himself. Although he'd made it seem as if she did most of the fighting, which didn't feel fair to Gohan.

'Why weren't you aware while your daughter was Mr. Satan?'

'I uhmmm, I don't really know. You'd have to ask Videl.'

'Well, we would, but we have no idea where your daughter is right now Mr. Satan, she's been missing since she left the Tournament.' The interviewer said. 'Do you know where she is?'

'Sorry, I don't. But I'm sure you'll find her around Satan City eventually. Now that I think 'bout it, maybe we should call it Videl City now that she's taken over as the world saviour whahaha.'

'She has saved a lot of people over the years in your city indeed.' The interviewer agreed. 'I am supposed to be impartial but I would say that she totally earns that honour, especially after saving the entire world today. Also, has Videl said anything about everybody in the world having the strange sensation of dying and then waking up again?'

'No she didn't. From what it sounded like that was just as much a miracle to her as it was to us.' Mr. Satan stumbled hesitantly, before continuing more confidently. 'But does it really matter? That monster is gone now! What's important is that the world is safe again.'

The interviewer turned back to the camera.

'There you have it ladies and gentlemen. From Mr. Satan himself. Our world was attacked by an evil monster, but Earth's new generation of heroes: Videl and the Great Saiyaman, managed to defeat this evil monster and save us all. We still have a lot of questions to ask our young new heroes, and we will continue to search for them, nobody seems to know where they are right now. Rest assured that we will update you immediately once we do.'

'Geez, you're in for a lot of harassment from the press.' Erasa said to Videl after a brief moment of silence. 'Think they'll really rename the city?'

'Gohan did more than I did.' Videl said harshly. 'He actually fought Buu for all that time. All I did was shoot it from behind.'

'Yeah, Gohan's up for a lot of harassment from the press too.' Erasa said thoughtfully. 'He's lucky that the press doesn't know where the Great Saiyaman lives.'

Videl turned to Gohan, who'd also followed the news report. He still looked upset.

'Hey Gohan…' Videl tried softly. 'The important thing is we got that monster in the end right? I know we couldn't save everyone, but the rest of us is still here right? And without you we'd all be dead, there wouldn't be anything left.'

'Videl is right.' Krillin said. 'Even before you were born we used the Dragon Balls to bring people back. Heck, I was brought back before you were even around. Their resurrection powers running out eventually isn't your fault.'

'You've grown a lot.' Korin added. 'The way you controlled your power and fought Majin Buu was incredible.'

'I know…' Gohan said solemnly. 'I'm really grateful to you guys. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. Without Master Korin helping me understand, without Krillin helping me train, without Videl figuring out Buu's weakness. It just doesn't feel like victory like this.'

The news report wasn't over yet. The man in the studio was still talking about Videl and the Great Saiyaman saving the world and what Mr. Satan had said.

'We now go live to Larry in Satan City and ask the people in the streets what they think of Mr. Satan's story!'

The footage shifted to what Videl recognised as one of the busy streets in the centre of Satan City, where a news crew approached an old man.

'Excuse me mister, but have you heard about what happened today?'

'I sure did!' The man called out happily. 'Videl and the Great Saiyaman defeated this evil monster that attacked us all. I dunno yet what kind of monster it was, but I'm sure they'll tell us once they're back!'

'So you believe this story about an evil monster attacking the world?' The news reporter asked him.

'Well, I was watching the Tournament footage on TV and when they said that both Videl and the Great Saiyaman had left the Tournament without notice I already figured they had to do heroic things. I'll have you know, those two, they're true heroes. I'll have you know my neighbour was in the Satan City Hotel a couple of weeks ago, when the fire broke out, and he was saved by the Great Saiyaman! The Great Saiyaman just carried him out, and by flying! And this lady at the end of the street where I live, she works at the bank and she was saved by Videl a couple of months ago when these crooks were trying to rob it! I reckon everybody here in Satan City knows at least one person who was saved by Videl or the Great Saiyaman once.'

'I remember that.' Gohan said surprised. 'It was the first time I became Saiyaman to save people.'

The news crew thanked the old man for his contribution and walked over to a young lady who looked to be in her late twenties.

'Excuse me ma'am.'

'Oh my, a camera, how lovely!'

'Yes, you're on live TV right now with ZTV here ma'am. Could I ask you a few questions?'

'Oh, sure dear.' The lady said.

'Have you heard about Videl and the Great Saiyaman saving the world today from an evil monster even stronger than Cell?'

'Oh my, really? I hadn't heard yet. But it doesn't surprise me at all. Those two are wonderful heroes! You know, the Great Saiyaman once helped me when my cat climbed into a tree and was too scared to get down. The Great Saiyaman was flying over, yes he was really flying, and spotted me in distress, my poor kitty was so scared! And he flew down and when I told him about my kitty he flew up the tree and carried it back down. And I'll have you know, he was such a gentleman about it too, even though his outfit was very goofy! And it's not just the Great Saiyaman, Videl's wonderful too. My grandmother was being mugged, maybe two months ago, and Videl saved her and all those muggers are now spending their deserved time in jail.' The lady concluded.

The news crew continued to ask people on the streets of Satan City, and everybody had at least one story about them knowing someone who was helped by Videl, and some also had stories about the Great Saiyaman. Even though Videl knew she did a lot for the city, it was still heart-warming to see all these people so grateful for it. Nobody seemed to have any doubts about the story that Videl and the Great Saiyaman joined forces to successfully fight a very evil monster.

'I never knew…' Gohan stated blankly.

'You never knew what?' Erasa asked.

'That so many people felt about me, I mean, about Videl and me. Like, they all like us for fighting a bit of crime and getting cats out of trees.'

Videl rolled her eyes. Leave it to Gohan to not notice his increasing popularity over the last few weeks due to living in the middle of nowhere.

'Well of course you're popular!' Chi-Chi exclaimed. 'You're a wonderful boy. Oh, seeing all those people so proud of you makes me proud as well.'

'Thanks mother.' Gohan said embarrassed, before straightening out and smiling.

'You guys are right. We saved all those people today. And I'll continue being the Great Saiyaman and helping people out, if it can help people's lives like that.'

'But the Great Saiyaman won't be alone.' Videl said matter-of-factly. 'I will be there right by his side. After all, he still has a lot more things to teach me. And I still have a lot of things to teach him about city life.'

* * *

 **Author's note: That's it. The end. It's somewhat of a dark ending as they couldn't bring everybody back. But I didn't want to end it on that note, so I also wanted to focus on the people that were saved.**

 **It's been a long time writing this, and overall I'm satisfied with how it turned out. There are some things that I wish I could've done better, there are some plotholes here and there (how many of you realised that Gohan's grandfather Ox-King magically appears at the Tournament after the lunch?), but overall I think I managed to write a consistent story. I started writing this as I thought about how much potential was wasted in the original Buu arc, with many elements like fusion, Old Kai's power boost, Super Saiyan 3, Dabura and his Demon Realm, and so on, not really leading into anything or being fully explored. And while writing this I gained new appreciation for the original Buu arc. I still think it's structurally a mess, but it does a lot of things right too. Fusion is still immensely popular, the attacks of Gotenks are awesome, Super Saiyan 3 has its own unique appeal, and Vegeta's sacrifice and redemption is one of the most iconic moments in all of Dragon Ball. And it was too bad I couldn't incorporate those things in this story. I chose to keep focus on Gohan, and his journey. He defeated Cell, but I never felt like that could be the end of his growth into a hero. I think the Great Saiyaman, aside from being a joke, is also a way for Gohan to being a hero like his dad. I wanted to let Gohan grow in his own way, rather than getting power-ups from old Kais and staying in his father's shadow by continuing to wear his Turtle outfit. And the Great Saiyaman is Gohan's way, because Gohan is a dork who wants to do the right thing, but also likes a bit of peace and quiet.**

 **You may notice there are still some open threads in this story. Goten still doesn't have his hero costume for instance, and Videl's father issues aren't resolved yet. When writing this for a large portion I was keeping a potential sequel in mind. And I've got a lot of ideas, but whether they will come to fruition I don't know yet. I've been a bit bummed out from Dragon Ball lately, with the Broly movie not really sparking my interest and the Tournament of Power just taking too long and being a bit too predictable in its power-up timing. Also important, I've got a lot of ideas for directions to take this, but not so much end points to such a sequel yet, and I do want a certain end-point to work towards in the story first. I would place such a sequel in a separate story on this account as it'd be quite different in tone to this "end of the world" thing. More humorous and light-hearted, more slice-of-life. And this story was called the Dabuura arc, named after a combination of Buu and Dabura, and both of those threats are now dealt with. Their story is over.**

 **Anyway, that's all from me. Let me know what you thought of this story in the reviews.**


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